See my little green friends?
My rose bed is planted with other things such as parsley, fennel, agastache, lavender, and Russian sage
in order to attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds because they are such good pollinators. Interestingly, the caterpillars have a very distinct preference for either fennel or parsley, depending on the variety of caterpillar. Monarch caterpillars love the fennel, as you can see in the photo.
Hi Leslie, I *think* those are black swallowtail caterpillars; monarchs are similar but lack the green coloration, and feed almost exclusively on milkweed and butterfly weed. I plant lots of herbs and flowers for the pollinators as well, every little bit of habitat helps!
ReplyDeleteOh, my bad! Thanks for pointing that out, Sue. I have loads of black swallowtails in the garden, so that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Leslie
we ALWAYS plant parsley for the swallowtails, but with travel this year did not get it in the ground...they ate the butterfly weed to the nub! and I found one over on the fig tree after it had gorged, making its cacoon but it hatched before I got back from trip. Mary Ann
ReplyDelete