Friday 7 March 2014

Want To Have Swallowtail Butterfly?

Dear Family & Friends

Do you want to have beautiful swallowtail butterfly fluttering in your garden? Well, you should join us in this project. This year, I'm determined to attract as many butterfly species into our garden. I wanted Monarch butterflies but my search for milkweed seed is very elusive for the moment and it's their only host plant, so, I decided that I will care for those species that we already have.

Swallowtail butterfly...

Swallowtail butterfly are beautiful. To encouragement them to your garden, you just have to plant parsley, dill and carrots where they can lay their eggs, and feed on.

Last year I planted parsley. Since we couldn't eat them all, it bolted and started to produce seeds. I've collected the seeds but there were a lot that just flew and fell into the ground. OK...it reseeded itself too:)

These are caterpillars feeding on dill plants....they will become the swallowtail butterflies

Happy me realized that because of the many parsley that grew everywhere in the garden, we also noticed swallowtail butterfly's presence more and more. So, a happy coincidence!

Growing parsley not only add prettiness to a garden but provide good food for people and butterflies. But remember not to kill those beautiful green and black striped caterpillar that munches away some of your parsley...because they are the future butterflies. Share your parsley...plant extra for them too:)



Just note that when you harvest your parsley ...go for the older leaves because butterflies normally lay their eggs on the newer leaves...you wouldn't want to eat butterfly eggs along with the parsley either;P

Hope you'll find the joy in having and inviting these friends into your garden too:) It's overall beneficial:)

Yours

4 comments:

  1. Annie , interesting stuff about butterflies ! Those caterpillars look gorgeous , the orange spots and black stripes combo is so pretty :D

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  2. How beautiful those butterflies are! So very nice!

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  3. Hi, your husband just commented on my blog, saying you were interested in Permaculture. I'll be back in Bulgaria in July for the European Permaculture Convergence in the Rhodopi Mountains. Maybe we can meet up.

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