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| A very acrobatic black swallowtail caterpillar by bodhilens |
The
black swallowtail we saw in July must have laid a lot of eggs in our yard. We found two caterpillars on dill in a pot in August. They ate up all fresh leaves and left (or captured by other creatures). We enjoyed watching them eating and growing happily, and I had already harvested some leaves and seeds, so it was all good, except that their sudden disappearance was disappointing. Then, in September, half a dozen caterpillars showed up on parsley in a pot. I divided the plant and transplanted some from the pot to the ground, hoping to save some leaves for me to harvest for a little longer. That was a good idea. Parsley in the ground grew well and spread quite a bit. I also took two caterpillars in the house and went to a store to buy a bunch of parsley to feed them, hoping to see them metamorphosing into butterflies. That was a big mistake. I was saddened to find them dead in the following morning. I learned that they could not tolerate a trace of pesticides on store-bought non-organic parsley, though I rinsed it thoroughly before feeding it to them. I felt really bad about killing two caterpillars and decided to give all parsley in our yard to their siblings. Two caterpillars were on the parsley in the ground until a few days ago, but now they are gone. I hope that they left to be chrysalises somewhere else and will show up as butterflies in our yard next spring.
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| Dill flowers with a bee by bodhilens |
