3 years ago I collected 36 of the the tiny young stage. I put them in a screened butterfly house with extra twigs and wet paper towels on the floor of their house. My husband and I watched them grow into the caterpillar stage and fed them organic parsley, carrot tops and fennel fronds. All organic, I didn’t want them eating something that may have been sprayed with an insecticide. We saw them all more into their chrysalis stage and I donated all but 6 to the Detroit Zoo, they have a butterfly house on their grounds opened to the public to walk thru, the butterfly’s will land on you as your strolling thru gardens in the house. The six we kept all turned into beautiful swallowtails. I took them out of their house placed them on nectar filled flowers and they stayed around for maybe 20 min. We see swallowtails all the time now, we always have dill, carrots and fennel growing. It makes me happy to see them around every year now. They were all the Eastern Black
They’re so much fun! Once they get bigger there more confident and robust do you can hold them… the one swallowtail I raised circled the back yard for a while like it was saying “look I can fly!” That bug I had to travel with on vacation and keep alive on long car rides. So seeing him circle the garden confidently made me proud of the little guy. Edit-she was a little lady, so maybe her daughters will visit my dill this spring. I still have her siblings who are overwintering. Not sure if they will survive but they’ve been kept safe and appear healthy.
I cried hysterical when I realized all these caterpillars I took off my citrus trees were swallowtails!!!! I thought they were bird poop at first but when those antenna came out I freaked out and threw them all over the fence. 😭
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 I'm hoping they'll survive anyway, I didn't kill them. Thank you for the tips on what to grow to attract more! (I haven't finished watching other videos of yours yet, but will!)
You might want to try planting lovage. Mine is in its second year and is around 5ft tall with a huge amount of leaf mass relative to things like dill and parsley. I found a caterpillar on it today that got me down this swallowtail rabbithole. Im in Manitoba and it's survived two harsh winters without a problem.
I miss butterflies so much and have a beautiful and very varied garden. So I am missing Dill and other things so I just ordered some seeds, I hope it's not too late to plant them. I heard Dill self seeds so maybe I will get some swallowtails next year :)
Plant it and they will come! I have planted a couple of dill plants and you are right, the seeds they create have helped me grow Dill all over the place. My garden has got so much dill, parsley, fennel and carrots right now. However, I have only had two caterpillars all summer. I am still optimistic that July and August will be big months for the Black Swallowtail! Good Luck!
I started gardening for butterflies 2 years ago....I love it. Last year I had monarchs, this year I have black & blue swallowtails. Gorgeous 🥰. My plan is to make my garden a heaven for 🐦, 🦋, 🐝, 🐞, 🐸, etc. Happy gardening everyone. 🖖🌻💚
Love the black swallowtail butterfly. I had around 10 caterpillars on my carrots. In meantime have been seeing this bright yellow butterfly but having hard time seeing the markings so I can try to identify. I used to just enjoy seeing the butterflies but now I want to learn to identify who they are,
Wow, you have a bunch of caterpillars going on those carrots. I use the App, I Naturalist to help identify plants, flowers, insects and butterflies. So if you can get a picture of your yellow butterfly, I Naturalist can help identify it. Thanks for viewing the video!
Hi there! I have 7 Black Swallowtail caterpillars that I’m feeding my fresh, organic parsley & dill. I found them a week ago Saturday on August 27, 2022. They were all at different stages when I found them hanging out on my parsley and dill. 😃 My question to you is this: once they form their chrysalis, will they remain in their chrysalis through the wintertime? It seems late for butterflies to emerge in late September. I’m in the Cleveland, Ohio area. If this is the case, should I place them in the garage through the wintertime? What are your thoughts here? Thank you so much.
I discovered black swallowtail cats just this past Saturday. Never noticed them before but we planted dill for the first time last year - just because we like to plants herbs on pots so maybe that’s what brought them to the yard. I’ve been planting parsley for a few years. Anyways, I’m am now obsessed and already bought two screen enclosures for my two caterpillars and hope to see them through to butterfly stage 🥰
Thanks Dave you are a true inspiration I love the black swallowtails and I’m looking forward to planting some dill and fennel this coming spring in my New York garden
When these caterpillars are young they are black with a white strip across the body. As they age their colors are very vibrant, especially when you look at it with a flashlight after dark. Videos will state that these caterpillars don't taste good to birds... I'm not certain, not being a bird. However, yellow jackets find these delicious. My first family of 5 caterpillars this season were coming along beautifully until one day I noticed they were missing. Checking the base of the plant I found a yellow jacket finishing off the last one. Greatly disappointed since no video told me to guard the little gems against yellow jackets, I kept an eye out for black swallowtails laying eggs on the parsley again. Once I had 4 hatchlings I covered the plant with cheese cloth to protect my family of worms this time. I'm now well into raising them and hope to avoid the wasp carnage. Don't forget to check out your caterpillars with a flashlight at night. The worms should be about 1 inch long for the best color display.
Thanks for your comments. I am excited to look at them at night. My garden is so lush right now with the parsley, fennel and dill. Yet no Black Swallowtails to be found. Not sure why it has been so quiet this summer.
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 I have been trying to find the right night to view the luminescence, but haven't got it exactly right. I'm working with 5 more ranging from 7/8 inch to 1 1/4 inch and have failed to see it again. Must be I'm not catching it at the right moment. I'll keep you posted.
Jason, you are so right. I saved the Rue for my video to attract the Giant Swallowtail. However, your right, it also is a host plant for the Black Swallowtail. I have planted two Rue plants this summer in my garden. Still waiting for some caterpillars! th-cam.com/video/zuIhYP-z5yA/w-d-xo.html
Do you recommend planting them in pots vs planting them in the ground,I have 8 plants in pots,some of them look better than others and I roughly have 12 cattippillars
I have a butterfly flower garden, pollinating garden, a bird garden, people garden, and now I just found this puddling super cold will make one tomorrow. Thank you for sharing.
I happen to have old parsley in my garden from last year, so some of it is flowering/seeding but there's also a bit of 1st year parsley. I just watched your video and out of curiosity checked my parsley, sure enough, there's a black swallowtail caterpillar. I had seen a black swallowtail butterfly earlier on my phlox. Not sure if it was a male or female. But now that I know the difference I'll be on the watch! Thank you so much!
I've got more than 30 black swallowtail caterpillars and cocoons in my garden right now! Attracting them is easy as putting out a basket of parsley - but then having a dozen more mature plants ready to go because they'll eat it all in the blink of an eye!
That is exciting! I have had just two black swallowtail caterpillars this year. My fennel, parsley, dill is ready for some hungry caterpillars. Hopefully more to come!
Another host plant is Queen Anne's lace. It's similar to carrots. Last year, I found a swallowtail caterpillar on one of the plants in the Fall. I haven't noticed any caterpillars this year yet.
I haven't seen any yet here in Minnesota, but it is still early. I hope to see some in June. My dill is just coming up. Hang in there, hopefully they will show up in the next few weeks.
I planted two rue plants last year that came back this year. I added two additional rue plants this year. They are all doing well. My local garden center stocks it every year.
Marie, thanks for watching the videos. I just found about 10 Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my Rue in my garden. It's October and they are still pretty small, hopefully they can make into a chrysalis for the winter. I think I will post a short video on these little guys. Enjoy!
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 aw, thats exciting and i really i hope they make it too! Looking forward to the next video! I know next year i will be working more on the standing water for the butterflies and dragonflies. Happy gardening!
I don't cut them down until Spring. It is good to leave stalks in place on your plants to help give protection for any overwintering insects and butterflies.
I have parsley for the first time this year not knowing and I just saw a black swallowtail along with a monarch they both seem to be eating off my zinnia flower
Now how do I keep yellow jackets away from eating them? I was so excited to see my dill with these caterpillars and seeing them get bigger and bigger and then one day they kept disappearing. And then I saw the yellow jackets taking them away.
Yes, it is a challenge to keep these caterpillars alive especially when they are small. I lost all of mine earlier in the summer last year, however, later in the summer I had many more that made it through to maturity. You may want to try to plant the parsley family of plants in different parts of your yard or garden. Good luck!
I had 2 anise swallowtail caterpillars on my dill and found one wandering around in the other side of our raised bed this morning on the bare soil, so I put it back on the plant. When I returned home from work, he was gone again. Not sure where he went but hopefully I'll see a butterfly flying around in a few days. Hopefully he wasn't eaten by my dog. I can't imagine a predator (rodent) would have eaten it during the day .... The other caterpillar is still hanging on for now... 🦋
If it was a big caterpillar hopefully it headed out to become a chrysalis. When they are smaller it seems birds enjoy them as a snack. I lost about 20 last year in one morning to birds. Gook luck!
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 he was pretty big. I hope he made it to where he needed to go. I hope to see him fluttering by soon. Thank you for your response. 🦋
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 Hey Dave, you may be excited to hear that I found one caterpillar yesterday and actually watched him form the chrysalis. What a special treat to witness. Then miracuously, I found the other one hanging off our raised bed - which was already in the cocoon. We are looking forward to watching both of them become butterflies.
Wow, I just checked my dill, parsley and dillantro and they are COVERED in caterpillars!! I looked them up it took me here. Not sure it’s 100 black swallow tail.
I find them most often on Dill and Fennel. However, I am not sure what bronze fennel is. I just had two fat caterpillars on my fennel that are now in the chrysalis phase. Good luck1
Newbie here , so this is a doubt question. Can you tell what type of butterfly it is by looks or the host plant they are on? I have 7 caterpillars on swamp weed. So is that going to be a monarch?
The only two caterpillars I ever see on milkweed are monarchs ( black and green) or the Tiger moth. (Fuzzier and typically come in groups). Down load the app INaturalist. You can take a picture and it will identify it for you. I must admit, I don't let the Tiger Moths last long. I try to save my milkweed for Monarchs.
Charles, The Easter Tiger Swallowtails deposit their eggs only on tulip poplars (commonly called tulip trees), wild cherries, sweet-bay, basswood, cottonwood, willow and white ash. I am not sure your Cherry Plum tree is a host plant for this butterfly? I have a big basswood in my yard and my neighbors have willow trees. Your chances go way up to attract the Tiger Swallow if you have nectar sources near by. My top flowers for the adult butterfly in order are: Hyssop Agastache, Butterfly Bush, Zinnias and Purple cone flowers. Good luck attracting these magnificent butterflies!
We had 6 on our carrot in pots this year, carrot was planted with parsnip and the caterpillar didn’t touch the parsnip. They didn’t find our parsley either.
Sarah, Parsley, Rue do well in zone 3-9, so zone 7 should work fine. Parsley is a biennial, so you may need to replant every other year. Attracting black swallowtail butterflies to my garden is one of my favorite things.
They are very similar, I did some more research and I do believe this is the black Swallowtail female. I don't think the female Tiger Swallowtail has the yellow spots above the blue? Thanks for questioning.
No, I’m afraid this is a female dark from Tiger Swallowtail. Absolutely no doubt about it. You can even see the tiger stripes on the hind wing. Looks totally different than a Black Swallowtail. It’s actually dark brown. Get someone who really knows to look at this for you.
I absolutely LOVE my BST caterpillar’s!! They are so stinking (no pun intended) adorable and interacting with them is the highlight of my day. So far raised and released over 48 of these beauties, including the 14 that wintered over since Sept of 2022 and hatched in the past week, now living the best days of their all too short lifespan.
I found one on my deck in the back and let it go on its way, but now um curious. What could i do to assist the little one on its journey? Just plant some dill and hope for the best, or is an enclosure preferred?
Planting the parsley family of plants, which includes dill, will draw in black swallowtails. If you find the caterpillars, they have a better chance of making it to the butterfly stage if they are protected in a safe habitat. Then you just need to feed them with dill and parsley until they turn into a chrysalis. Good luck!
3 years ago I collected 36 of the the tiny young stage. I put them in a screened butterfly house with extra twigs and wet paper towels on the floor of their house. My husband and I watched them grow into the caterpillar stage and fed them organic parsley, carrot tops and fennel fronds. All organic, I didn’t want them eating something that may have been sprayed with an insecticide. We saw them all more into their chrysalis stage and I donated all but 6 to the Detroit Zoo, they have a butterfly house on their grounds opened to the public to walk thru, the butterfly’s will land on you as your strolling thru gardens in the house.
The six we kept all turned into beautiful swallowtails. I took them out of their house placed them on nectar filled flowers and they stayed around for maybe 20 min.
We see swallowtails all the time now, we always have dill, carrots and fennel growing.
It makes me happy to see them around every year now. They were all the Eastern Black
I love your commitment to these beautiful butterflies!
They’re so much fun! Once they get bigger there more confident and robust do you can hold them… the one swallowtail I raised circled the back yard for a while like it was saying “look I can fly!”
That bug I had to travel with on vacation and keep alive on long car rides. So seeing him circle the garden confidently made me proud of the little guy.
Edit-she was a little lady, so maybe her daughters will visit my dill this spring. I still have her siblings who are overwintering. Not sure if they will survive but they’ve been kept safe and appear healthy.
Thanks for sharing! I hope your overwintering siblings burst into beautiful butterflies this Spring!
Golden Alexander (Zizia Aurea) is a native host plant 🥰
Thanks Ali, I am going to look into getting this plant!
I cried hysterical when I realized all these caterpillars I took off my citrus trees were swallowtails!!!! I thought they were bird poop at first but when those antenna came out I freaked out and threw them all over the fence. 😭
Steph, You probably aren't the first person to do that. Caterpillars can look pretty strange and nasty, especially the Giant Swallowtail.
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 I'm hoping they'll survive anyway, I didn't kill them. Thank you for the tips on what to grow to attract more! (I haven't finished watching other videos of yours yet, but will!)
Found 15 swallowtail caterpillars on my dill today. Thank you for the info on them.
That is fabulous! It is fun to watch them grow!
You might want to try planting lovage. Mine is in its second year and is around 5ft tall with a huge amount of leaf mass relative to things like dill and parsley. I found a caterpillar on it today that got me down this swallowtail rabbithole. Im in Manitoba and it's survived two harsh winters without a problem.
Great advice, I am going to research lovage and where I can get it. Nice to get a plant that comes back year after year!
I miss butterflies so much and have a beautiful and very varied garden. So I am missing Dill and other things so I just ordered some seeds, I hope it's not too late to plant them. I heard Dill self seeds so maybe I will get some swallowtails next year :)
Plant it and they will come! I have planted a couple of dill plants and you are right, the seeds they create have helped me grow Dill all over the place. My garden has got so much dill, parsley, fennel and carrots right now. However, I have only had two caterpillars all summer. I am still optimistic that July and August will be big months for the Black Swallowtail! Good Luck!
I started gardening for butterflies 2 years ago....I love it. Last year I had monarchs, this year I have black & blue swallowtails. Gorgeous 🥰. My plan is to make my garden a heaven for 🐦, 🦋, 🐝, 🐞, 🐸, etc.
Happy gardening everyone.
🖖🌻💚
Good Luck! Each year you will have more and more butterflies!
Love the black swallowtail butterfly. I had around 10 caterpillars on my carrots. In meantime have been seeing this bright yellow butterfly but having hard time seeing the markings so I can try to identify. I used to just enjoy seeing the butterflies but now I want to learn to identify who they are,
Wow, you have a bunch of caterpillars going on those carrots. I use the App, I Naturalist to help identify plants, flowers, insects and butterflies. So if you can get a picture of your yellow butterfly, I Naturalist can help identify it. Thanks for viewing the video!
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 thank you for app suggestion
Hi there! I have 7 Black Swallowtail caterpillars that I’m feeding my fresh, organic parsley & dill. I found them a week ago Saturday on August 27, 2022. They were all at different stages when I found them hanging out on my parsley and dill. 😃
My question to you is this: once they form their chrysalis, will they remain in their chrysalis through the wintertime? It seems late for butterflies to emerge in late September. I’m in the Cleveland, Ohio area. If this is the case, should I place them in the garage through the wintertime? What are your thoughts here? Thank you so much.
I discovered black swallowtail cats just this past Saturday. Never noticed them before but we planted dill for the first time last year - just because we like to plants herbs on pots so maybe that’s what brought them to the yard. I’ve been planting parsley for a few years. Anyways, I’m am now obsessed and already bought two screen enclosures for my two caterpillars and hope to see them through to butterfly stage 🥰
That is exciting! Good luck on raising them into butterflies! I like your tag name! Keep on riding!
Thanks Dave you are a true inspiration I love the black swallowtails and I’m looking forward to planting some dill and fennel this coming spring in my New York garden
Carmen, Thanks for kind words! Good luck next summer attracting this beautiful butterfly!
I believe cilantro and Dara/Queen Anne’s Lace are other options for host plants.
I think your correct! I love these caterpillars!
Great job Dave I’m going out to find some deal today and put it in my garden love those swallowtails!
Thanks Carmen! I agree Swallowtails are spectacular butterflies. The Black Swallowtails love the Dill. I found two caterpillars on the dill today!
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 does Dill work better than parsley. Parsley is more hardy.
When these caterpillars are young they are black with a white strip across the body. As they age their colors are very vibrant, especially when you look at it with a flashlight after dark. Videos will state that these caterpillars don't taste good to birds... I'm not certain, not being a bird. However, yellow jackets find these delicious. My first family of 5 caterpillars this season were coming along beautifully until one day I noticed they were missing. Checking the base of the plant I found a yellow jacket finishing off the last one. Greatly disappointed since no video told me to guard the little gems against yellow jackets, I kept an eye out for black swallowtails laying eggs on the parsley again. Once I had 4 hatchlings I covered the plant with cheese cloth to protect my family of worms this time. I'm now well into raising them and hope to avoid the wasp carnage.
Don't forget to check out your caterpillars with a flashlight at night. The worms should be about 1 inch long for the best color display.
Thanks for your comments. I am excited to look at them at night. My garden is so lush right now with the parsley, fennel and dill. Yet no Black Swallowtails to be found. Not sure why it has been so quiet this summer.
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 I have been trying to find the right night to view the luminescence, but haven't got it exactly right. I'm working with 5 more ranging from 7/8 inch to 1 1/4 inch and have failed to see it again. Must be I'm not catching it at the right moment. I'll keep you posted.
Wow Dave!...thanks so very much for another amazing video!
So sweet! Thank you!
Rue,Rue,Rue........you forgot to mention the Rue 😁
Jason, you are so right. I saved the Rue for my video to attract the Giant Swallowtail. However, your right, it also is a host plant for the Black Swallowtail. I have planted two Rue plants this summer in my garden. Still waiting for some caterpillars! th-cam.com/video/zuIhYP-z5yA/w-d-xo.html
Do you recommend planting them in pots vs planting them in the ground,I have 8 plants in pots,some of them look better than others and I roughly have 12 cattippillars
This is my 1st year rearing black swallowtails
4th year rearing monarch butterflies 🦋
be careful with Rue in the summer heat, it can give you a terrible rash.
I have a butterfly flower garden, pollinating garden, a bird garden, people garden, and now I just found this puddling super cold will make one tomorrow. Thank you for sharing.
Wonderful!
I collect the eggs n raise n release them. Just found 11 eggs
That is fabulous! I wish you the best with your latest 11 eggs!
I happen to have old parsley in my garden from last year, so some of it is flowering/seeding but there's also a bit of 1st year parsley. I just watched your video and out of curiosity checked my parsley, sure enough, there's a black swallowtail caterpillar. I had seen a black swallowtail butterfly earlier on my phlox. Not sure if it was a male or female. But now that I know the difference I'll be on the watch! Thank you so much!
That is super exciting. Hopefully they will grow and become a chrysalis. Birds seem to like them for lunch! Good Luck!
I've got more than 30 black swallowtail caterpillars and cocoons in my garden right now! Attracting them is easy as putting out a basket of parsley - but then having a dozen more mature plants ready to go because they'll eat it all in the blink of an eye!
That is exciting! I have had just two black swallowtail caterpillars this year. My fennel, parsley, dill is ready for some hungry caterpillars. Hopefully more to come!
Another host plant is Queen Anne's lace. It's similar to carrots. Last year, I found a swallowtail caterpillar on one of the plants in the Fall. I haven't noticed any caterpillars this year yet.
IL guy, Thanks for the note on Queen Anne's lace. I am not very familiar with this plant. I will need to find it and add to the garden.
It almost jume down here in Louisiana and I haven’t gotten any black swallowtails yet, I’m worried this time last year I had some already 😭🥺
I haven't seen any yet here in Minnesota, but it is still early. I hope to see some in June. My dill is just coming up. Hang in there, hopefully they will show up in the next few weeks.
The first one I ever saw was in October, 2014, in Bear Creek Park, in Colorado Springs Colorado.
They are spectacular!
I grow rue plant for my black swallowtail. Have had great success with this plant. It is a hard plant to find!
I planted two rue plants last year that came back this year. I added two additional rue plants this year. They are all doing well. My local garden center stocks it every year.
Thank you. Very interesting 🦋
Glad you enjoyed it
Love the videos, love learning.
Marie, thanks for watching the videos. I just found about 10 Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my Rue in my garden. It's October and they are still pretty small, hopefully they can make into a chrysalis for the winter. I think I will post a short video on these little guys. Enjoy!
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 aw, thats exciting and i really i hope they make it too! Looking forward to the next video! I know next year i will be working more on the standing water for the butterflies and dragonflies. Happy gardening!
Hey Dave do you cut down the stalks of the butterfly weed in the winter time thanks love you channel
I don't cut them down until Spring. It is good to leave stalks in place on your plants to help give protection for any overwintering insects and butterflies.
I enjoy your videos: educational and entertaining, please keep making them!
Thanks Maritza, I am glad you enjoy them.
Great video
I have parsley for the first time this year not knowing and I just saw a black swallowtail along with a monarch they both seem to be eating off my zinnia flower
That is fabulous. Keep checking the parsley for the young caterpillars. Butterflies love the Zinnias!
New subscriber here🦋
Retha, thanks for joining. I hope you enjoy the videos!
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 i definitely will thanks🤗
so cool thank you
Glad you liked it!
Now how do I keep yellow jackets away from eating them? I was so excited to see my dill with these caterpillars and seeing them get bigger and bigger and then one day they kept disappearing. And then I saw the yellow jackets taking them away.
Yes, it is a challenge to keep these caterpillars alive especially when they are small. I lost all of mine earlier in the summer last year, however, later in the summer I had many more that made it through to maturity. You may want to try to plant the parsley family of plants in different parts of your yard or garden. Good luck!
I had 2 anise swallowtail caterpillars on my dill and found one wandering around in the other side of our raised bed this morning on the bare soil, so I put it back on the plant. When I returned home from work, he was gone again. Not sure where he went but hopefully I'll see a butterfly flying around in a few days. Hopefully he wasn't eaten by my dog. I can't imagine a predator (rodent) would have eaten it during the day .... The other caterpillar is still hanging on for now... 🦋
If it was a big caterpillar hopefully it headed out to become a chrysalis. When they are smaller it seems birds enjoy them as a snack. I lost about 20 last year in one morning to birds. Gook luck!
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 he was pretty big. I hope he made it to where he needed to go. I hope to see him fluttering by soon. Thank you for your response. 🦋
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 Hey Dave, you may be excited to hear that I found one caterpillar yesterday and actually watched him form the chrysalis. What a special treat to witness. Then miracuously, I found the other one hanging off our raised bed - which was already in the cocoon. We are looking forward to watching both of them become butterflies.
Wow, I just checked my dill, parsley and dillantro and they are COVERED in caterpillars!! I looked them up it took me here. Not sure it’s 100 black swallow tail.
That is exciting, Congratulations! As they get bigger they become spectacular!
Out to the garden to sow dill seed. I have curly parsley but have never noticed caterpillars. Wonder is bronze fennel works?
I find them most often on Dill and Fennel. However, I am not sure what bronze fennel is. I just had two fat caterpillars on my fennel that are now in the chrysalis phase. Good luck1
Newbie here , so this is a doubt question. Can you tell what type of butterfly it is by looks or the host plant they are on? I have 7 caterpillars on swamp weed. So is that going to be a monarch?
The only two caterpillars I ever see on milkweed are monarchs ( black and green) or the Tiger moth. (Fuzzier and typically come in groups). Down load the app INaturalist. You can take a picture and it will identify it for you. I must admit, I don't let the Tiger Moths last long. I try to save my milkweed for Monarchs.
@@davethebutterflyguy9841 Thank you so much!!
hi Dave, how can I attract Eastern Swallowtails caterpillars. I planted a cherry plum. will adults lay eggs on these, or what else can I plant?
Charles, The Easter Tiger Swallowtails deposit their eggs only on tulip poplars (commonly called tulip trees), wild cherries, sweet-bay, basswood, cottonwood, willow and white ash. I am not sure your Cherry Plum tree is a host plant for this butterfly? I have a big basswood in my yard and my neighbors have willow trees. Your chances go way up to attract the Tiger Swallow if you have nectar sources near by. My top flowers for the adult butterfly in order are: Hyssop Agastache, Butterfly Bush, Zinnias and Purple cone flowers. Good luck attracting these magnificent butterflies!
@@davethebutterflyguy9841
And good luck Finding a live white ash
We had 6 on our carrot in pots this year, carrot was planted with parsnip and the caterpillar didn’t touch the parsnip. They didn’t find our parsley either.
Interesting they didn't go to the parsley. Although, they do like the carrot greens! Well done!
Mine decimated the dill planted for them then the pillars disappeared??
I have added parsley and fennel to my garden for that reason. Dill doesn't have as much foliage so the caterpillars can really do a number on dill.
I’ve had the poor butterflies hatch in the garage with my overwintering orange trees. They don’t make it. 😭
That is sad, I hope they can make it outside next year?
I can't seem to get milkweed to grow😢
Common milkweed seems to be the heartiest milkweed. Sun, part sun, can handle dry conditions. I hope you keep trying!
Are they winter hardy in zone 7?
Sarah, Parsley, Rue do well in zone 3-9, so zone 7 should work fine. Parsley is a biennial, so you may need to replant every other year. Attracting black swallowtail butterflies to my garden is one of my favorite things.
At 1:41 the butterfly shown is not a Black swallowtail. It’s a dark form female Tiger swallowtail.
They are very similar, I did some more research and I do believe this is the black Swallowtail female. I don't think the female Tiger Swallowtail has the yellow spots above the blue? Thanks for questioning.
No, I’m afraid this is a female dark from Tiger Swallowtail. Absolutely no doubt about it. You can even see the tiger stripes on the hind wing. Looks totally different than a Black Swallowtail. It’s actually dark brown. Get someone who really knows to look at this for you.
I absolutely LOVE my BST caterpillar’s!! They are so stinking (no pun intended) adorable and interacting with them is the highlight of my day. So far raised and released over 48 of these beauties, including the 14 that wintered over since Sept of 2022 and hatched in the past week, now living the best days of their all too short lifespan.
Well done Marsha! They are spectacular caterpillars. I can't wait to see what this summer brings!
i love them so much()
same that was my datere thea
Fabulous!
I found one on my deck in the back and let it go on its way, but now um curious. What could i do to assist the little one on its journey? Just plant some dill and hope for the best, or is an enclosure preferred?
For reference I'm in the southern tier of new york.
Planting the parsley family of plants, which includes dill, will draw in black swallowtails. If you find the caterpillars, they have a better chance of making it to the butterfly stage if they are protected in a safe habitat. Then you just need to feed them with dill and parsley until they turn into a chrysalis. Good luck!