Parsley and Caterpillars

This spring I planted curly and flat-leaf parsley in two of our deck pots. I had read they were good for attracting butterflies (remember this point!) and so that would bring some fun gardening. As summer progressed, so did the parsley. I loved cutting it for cooking and it grew back quickly.

Lo and behold, one day I saw these "green, yellow and black things", eating my parsley in front of my own eyes. Surely they were garden pests!! I plucked them off for several days until they disappeared. The parsley grew back. And then one day I was reading a column that I enjoy in the Wichita paper that talks about what is blooming and growing in the Wichita Botanical Gardens. Lo and behold! What was featured and photographed in the article was the Swallowtail Caterpillar - those "green, yellow, and black things" in my pots! Oh my! When I told the girls about it, all they said was "Ohhhh, Grannnndma!" I felt like a really big meanie!

Not to worry. The little critters reappeared. At first not more than what looked like a 1/2" piece of moving dirt. Then very quickly they changed colors and were the very same caterpillars!

In no time at all they devoured my bush of curly parsley (you can see only short little stalks remain!) and being the "Good Mother" than I am, I began breaking off some of the flat-leaf so that they could continue munching away.

Moira thought we should put two caterpillars in a large plastic cup, place some sticks and parsely in it, cover it with plastic wrap and give them some air holes, then watch for a chrysalis to appear. Great idea! So twice a day the two caterpillars got two branches of parsley - EACH. These little critters were getting big, now over two inches in length and were becoming quite the "poopers". Google said they'd get 3-4 inches before the next stage. By this time, I was getting tired of the smell of the poop in my kitchen so I set them outside on the deck.

The next night we had rain. They were OK. I moved them to what I thought was a safer place but the wind blew the cup over and when I checked, one had crawled out. No problem, we thought now there would be more room for one chrysalis. Well, when I checked again, the other had crawled out. Too bad. I was really getting into seeing what they would eventually look like. Bummer!

Just before I went back into the house, I turned and this is what graced me!

The largest, most beautiful Monarch butterfly I've ever seen. So now I hope the Swallowtail caterpillars will reappear as butterflies. After all, the parsley is growing again so lunch will be ready!