Friday, September 21, 2012

Two Left

The pair of Papilo polyxenes caterpillars on my smaller dill plant proved to be too much. I found the plant reduced to a stump, devoid of cuddly butterfly babies. I imagine they have since starved in the flowerbed somewhere, because there is no other food source for them nearby.

These remaining two, above, for now at least, are plump eating machines. If their host plant can keep up with them, they will soon overwinter in my garden in their chrysalis form.

3 comments:

Becky said...

They are not as fussy as some butterflies. I think they also like fennel and parsley. Perhaps mom could have picked a better spot, but she lays eggs all over to increase the chance of offspring. Nice photo by the way!

Donna said...

These are monarchs and they LOVE milkweed. Maybe you could transfer them next time. If you don't have milkweed, you could plant one in an out of the way spot.

Michelle Clay said...

Donna, you are mistaken. Monarchs do not eat dill.