Herb Garden Gal

I captured this beautiful swallowtail butterfly amongst the spotted purple petunias as I came out of the house.

Just happened that I had my phone in hand and was able to snap these pics.

Usually they’re gone by the time I pull out my camera but this butterfly stuck around for a photo :-).

I love seeing butterflies in the garden.  It’s mesmerising to watch them fluttering around and one of the most enjoyable parts of summer and gardening for me 🙂

A few days after I took the swallowtail pic, I was sitting out in my backyard enjoying my coffee, and marveling at all the activity – bees, birds, butterflies, unknown insects – some leisurely floating through the air, others whizzing by as if they were on some invisible freeway.

My thoughts wandered to the swallowtail butterfly.

More specifically to the life cycle of the swallowtail and what attracts them to the garden.

Swallowtails like most butterflies love to drink the nectar from nectar-rich flowers, as I think most people know.

And from what I see when I look around my garden and my neighbours’ gardens, there are plenty of sources of nectar to be found throughout the growing season.

Hence the allure of my petunias for this swallowtail 🙂

But the lifecycle of the swallowtail butterfly starts long before those beautiful wings grace our gardens.

The swallowtail butterfly lays her eggs on host plants that she knows will provide a food source for the caterpillars hatching from the eggs.  Eventually the well-fed caterpillar forms a chrysalis from which a butterfly eventually emerges.

Now about these caterpillars.  They are picky eaters 🙂

The most common host plants for swallowtails I see in my garden and neighbourhood are parsley, fennel, dill, carrot and Queen Anne’s Lace (aka wild carrot).

Yup, these are the caterpillars that methodically eat clean the leaves off my parsley herb plants, leaving only bare stalks.

I found this picture I took a year earlier of a swallowtail caterpillar feasting on my fennel herbs – ha, no problem getting the camera before the caterpillar moves 🙂

So as I see it, the most likely way to attract swallowtail butterflies to your garden is to grow plenty of host plants for the swallowtail caterpillars.

Yes, leave them on your parsley if you find them there.   I find the damage to my herbs from a swallowtail caterpillar is not any worse than if I snipped a few sprigs of the herb for the kitchen.

If you must, carefully break off the sprig the caterpillar is on and gently relocate the caterpillar to another suitable host.  I have done this on occasion when I’ve found a swallowtail caterpillar on an already sparse parsley plant.

Don’t use pesticides either on or near swallowtail host plants.  Organic or conventional, does not matter.  Both will poison swallowtail caterpillars.  And no caterpillars means no butterflies.   Seriously!

I do have a confession.   I don’t go planting specific herbs and flowers to attract certain butterflies.

I kinda go about it the other way around.  I plant herbs, vegetables and flowers that I like and that I will use in my kitchen.  Or that I purchase specifically to beautify my gardens.

Then when the butterflies show up, I enjoy the visits.  And when the caterpillars show up,well…I go searching to find out what I’ve got.   ‘A Field Guild to Caterpillars‘. is a great resource.  Also available from Amazon – A Field Guide to Caterpillars.

Enjoy 🙂

Happy Gardening 🙂
Barb

P.S. Pick up a your own copy of the book “A Field Guide to Caterpillars” at chapters.indigo.ca or at Amazon.

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