One of the vegetables I planted this year was fennel, the host plant for Black Swallowtail Butterflies. I became absloutely giddy when I saw my first female arrive to lay her eggs, tiny golden specks on the lacy stalks...
and since then I've had varying degrees of success at raising the larvae as I've studied and learned from their behavior.
I'll be sharing my observations on how to foster and release them over several posts...
but for now, enjoy caterpillars in their First Instar Stage. In this particular scheme I inverted a glass florist's frog and pushed the stems of the fennel through. I works really well, easy to replenish with fennel and water...
while they're munching away, encased in terrariums in my dining room, getting ready to pupate and then fly away.
