There I was thinking I was growing my own parsley for tabbouleh and falafels but turns out I am growing it for butterflies. Black Swallowtails to be exact.
The mystery as to why one parsley plant looked like a bunch of pickup sticks yesterday is solved.
These Swallowtail lava are eating well. I purchased my culinary parsley seedlings at a premium price from the best organic vegetable seed germination whisperer at farmers market. The bed had been prepared with aged compost enhanced with rabbit and poultry manure hauled from a small animal farm project 20 miles away.
Every spring I nurture Dill (Anethum graveolens) around the garden for Black Swallowtail butterflies (Papilio polyxene). I don’t blame them for turning to the parsley though, since recent extreme heat has the Dill looking decidedly unappetizing for caterpillars right now.
Up close, these caterpillars are really rather beautiful even as they devour my dreams of dining on tabbouleh this week. It’s not just about the flowers. There can be no pollinator garden without larval host plants.
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