Summer sighting, very cool:
I was sitting in my garden this morning and a large black butterfly caught my eye: a black swallowtail! Now, it seemed to be hanging around my vegetable garden. I watched it for quite a while, keeping my distance (I didn't want to bother her because I suspected she was up to something) and once she had gone, I went and inspected my carrots.
Sure enough, there's a tiny little egg on one of my carrot plants. I have a confession: I don't really like to eat carrots myself. So when I planted them, I was secretly hoping that I'd end up with swallowtails! Carrots and other plants in the same family are host plants for the caterpillars of some species of swallowtails.
I thought about bringing the egg inside where I could keep it safe until it hatched, and feed the caterpillar, but I decided it was probably a better idea to leave it outside. Hopefully I'll be able to keep an eye on the egg and then the caterpillar as it grows. It might be a little hard on my carrot plants, but that's okay. I think the caterpillar can have my share!
2 comments:
That is so cool Maki! I can't believe you saw a black swallow tail in your garden!
I know, I thought it was really cool too! Today I looked and I couldn't find the egg (or the caterpillar) so I hope it hatched and is hiding somewhere from the rain.
I think it helps that I have the right host plants in my garden, plus a number of popular butterfly flowers, like blanket flower and black-eyed susans.
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