Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Eastern Black Swallowtail butterflies in my garden

I have gotten very interested in nature in the last 9 months. Last fall I took several classes from Pat Sutton at the Cape May Nature Observatory. The classes were on building a backyard bird and butterfly gardens. She's a wonderful teacher. My yard slopes away fom my house which makes some of what I'd like to do more difficult. So I have had several yards of soil delivered and then had the "pleasure" of moving wheelbarrels full of dirt to the back yard. I made a small garden space and last weekend expanded it. I started with a 2 piece waterfall and then added plants that are native and nature friendly. I have lots more plans plus this weekend Pat is leading a butterfly gardens tour where we visit private gardens geared to bring in butterflies! I can't wait and hope the weather will be good. In the past few weeks I have seen Eastern Black Swallowtails in the yard. About 3 days ago I saw 3 caterpillars on my Bronze Fennel plants. Since then I have had another 3 caterpillars munching away. I am not sure where the original caterpillars have gone but when I came home tonight they were not on the host plant. I am hoping they were not eaten but have gone into the chrysalis stage of their development. I gave a quick look but didn't find them. Above is picture of the butterfly and below are the caterpillars.

3 comments:

Thelma said...

Such a beautiful garden! Love the waterfall and the butterfly!

Susan said...

Looks great! Don't you love those butterflies? I have the worms all over in the dill right now.

Beth said...

Love, love, love the butterflies. Makes me smile a happy smile