Wednesday, July 20

Swallowtails... Plural!!!

I got to see a newly emerged black swallowtail on Monday morning! I somehow noticed him right before I got into my car for work, so I stopped to take a moment and admire. His wings were already fairly dry so he must have emerged before the night... but he was resting on the bronze fennel just below this, his former home:




I love the way the chrysalis looks hanging off of the gutter. I can't decide whether it looks more like a bat, all wrapped up for a daytime nap but hanging the wrong way... or some kind of cool masthead for a ship. Either way, it's very fun. (And I'm grateful that someone, FINALLY, has found the bronze fennel!  *grumble*)

Edited to add:  Better yet, he seems to have  spread the word about the fennel!  Check out who I am now happily, unapologetically stalking:


Updates (I hope!) to come...  :)

11 comments:

Nellie from Beyond My Garden said...

This is great! I'll have to go check my bronze fennel in the morning.
nellie

Unknown said...

Nellie, you may have to keep looking... I didn't see ANYTHING a couple of days ago! But suddenly, here they are. :)

Christine said...

I have bronze fennel growing in several places on my property and have never seen a swallowtail caterpillar on them. Bummer.
I love the photo of the chrysalis.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

How cool is this. I have had the caterpillars on my fennel many times but Inever have seen a chrysalis in my garden. WOW. What luck. I hope you get pictures of all. I can't wait to see them.

Sissy said...

They told me to let my parsley and cilantro go to seed, to attract butterflies, but so far, only Japanese Beetles! EW!

Kerri said...

It's great to catch up with you again, Kim. Thanks for stopping by and saying hello.
Lucky you to see the chrysalis, newly emerged butterfly, AND a caterpillar! I've seen several varieties of butterflies but no cats yet.
It's hard to believe there are any blooms left in my garden after the heat and lack of rain we've had lately, but it's still looking colorful, and for that I'm grateful.
I know how hard it would be to give up your part-time job at the nursery and loose those perks!
Love your cute giraffe :)

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

Oh, I love this! And, I'm kind of green with envy. I keep planting things to inspire swallowtails to live with me but so far... no luck. Congrats! What fun!

Lisa said...

Beautifully captured. Nice shot.

Lisa from Country Guitar Lessons

Jan said...

I feel your excitement! It's really a thrill for us nature lovers, isn't it?! The first time I had cats (on my parsley) was last summer. At that time, we had a 2 wk trip planned so I missed the process that followed. When we returned, I found a couple of empty chrysallis shells and there were lots of swallowtails on my agastache. I would love to see the 'whole show' this year because I've missed it, so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

That is so cool! I've yet to see a chrysalis in my garden. Next year, I must remember to get some bronze fennel. This year I have one bulbous fennel plant out of I don't know how many seeds I sowed. No sign of a caterpillar there because there isn't enough to eat.

Anne McCormack said...

Black Swallowtails are so beautiful! I don't grow fennel, but I see the caterpillars on my parsley every summer. I add a little parsley plant to almost every container.

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