I think these are swallowtails. I planted this fennel back in the spring and had nothing until now. It was huge and I was gone for a week and came back to this! Will they find enough food or do I need to do something. There's some rue and mint nearby
by Nervous-Piglet
10 Comments
Holy shit thats crazy. If anyone knows where to buy fennel right now, i’m all ears. Mine perished in the May heat wave.
I always try to grow fennel for these guys!
They love dill and parsley too!
Yay! I found one decimating my disappointing dill plant so I feel accomplished. One day I hope to have epic caterpillars like you! (And yes they are swallowtails IIRC).
WOW! So glad these babies are back. We were getting worried because we hadn’t seen any yet. They found our parsley a few days ago, though!
Last year they decimated my parsley plants so I ended up going to buy plants or organic parsley to feed em lol. They also eat dill. They’re beautiful Black Swallowtails when they change.
I’ve seen Swallowtail butterflies in the backyard, but haven’t had any caterpillars on my fennel, dill, or parsley. The fennel is pulling in a bunch of ladybugs at least.
Thanks for sharing! I haven’t used fennel much in cooking so it wouldn’t have been at the top of my herbs list, but it is now if it means I might get caterpillars and butterflies in my garden!
https://preview.redd.it/6isg5f1j53df1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c1fe4fc32aa21c008b7ccfe1071402c24eb0616b
Giant swallowtail!
The pattern looks like a black swallowtail caterpillar to me. Fennel is one of their host plants, they will eat other plants in the carrot family (parsley, dill, etc), and for some reason Rue.
We like to bring our caterpillars indoors to keep them safe.