We had just greeted the first swallowtail butterfly of the season a couple of weeks ago, and thankfully that was on my mind as I rounded the corner of the house to inspect a small patch of herbs, which, depending on the year, includes chives, feverfew, basil, lemon balm, grapefruit mint, dill, and parsley. This year I’ve only put in some basil pots and a single curly-leaf parsley plant. As I crouched down to inspect the sad bit of progress these sun-loving herbs had made in all the rain, I was further dismayed to find the parsley in the midst of total annihilation by no less than four striped caterpillars.
Pushing back the initial instinct to panic and kill, I went inside and did a quick Google search. Something told me not go on a killing spree just yet, and I recalled the similar-looking caterpillars that morphed into the Monarch butterfly, and which favored the Asclepias plants just a few short feet away.
In another lesson of patience, and conducting research before action, I discovered that these striped creatures were the precursor of the Swallowtail butterfly, and my hesitation in excising them may have given wing to some swallowtails of the future. I also decided to sacrifice the whole parsley plant for however many critters wanted to begin their journey to butterflydom.
Andy says curly-leaf parsley isn’t decent parsley anyway. Another lesson from the garden.
