Following up on my original post on the caterpillars on our parsley plant, the caterpillars ate themselves plump, and then each wondered off to form a pupa or crysalis. If conditions are favorable, lovely Swallowtail butterflies, as pictured above, will emerge.
The caterpillars, which you see in the photo above if you click on the picture for the enlarged view, ate our plant nearly bare, down to the stems. I neglected to take a picture of the bare stems, but in the photo below, you can see that the stems at the bottom of the plant remain bare, but, in the center, new parsley leaves are growing...
...which only goes to prove the truth of the axiom (which I just now coined): You can share your parsley and eat it, too.
This link to a learning site for children on the life cycle of a butterfly, also serves grown-ups well.
Some caterpillars are beautiful actually, if you look at them closely. The cold weather is coming in London though - do they need to shelter somewhere during the winter? ... It seems the wrong time of year for caterpillars. Sorry, I should read your guide to the lifecycle, but I'm already typing this :-)
ReplyDeleteOur caterpillars were beautiful, Cathy. My first post was written in early September. I should think that the timing of the life cycle would be different in England than in the southern US. The link does not address the seasons of the life cycle.
ReplyDeleteYes, but I HIGHLY recommend checking out the parsley you pick as you walk back from the garden to the kitchen . . .
ReplyDeleteWV: "treidere"--see, another one crawling up the stem!
Catherine, thank you. I will check the parsley that I pick, and if I find a caterpillar attached, I'll move it gently to a leaf on the plant.
ReplyDeleteHungry little buggers aren't they? I saw a Monarch recently and wondered when it would head south (maybe it was on its way from further north). Butterflies are so much fun to watch you are fortunate to have them for so much of the year.
ReplyDeleteAmelia, the critters get fat very quickly. The change in one day is startling.
ReplyDeleteVisiting us now are one or more Tiger Swallowtails, with yellow stripes, and a black butterfly with a blue stripe, which may also be a Swallowtail, but I'm not sure.