Awwwww! I wish I had them on MY dill. Oh, wait. I've pulled my dill. But I wish I had them on my FENNEL! Yeah, I've got lots of that, and no cats at all! *sniff* They are BEE-YOOOOOtiful, Nova! Thanks for sharing the pics! I've got more monarch cats today, but nothing else that I've found.

Way to go!
Marcia

Very cool, Nova! Hope you have lots of gorgeous butterflies this summer. I noted with a smile that your fingernail and hand has dirt on it, a sign of a TRUE gardener LOL! I do try to wear gloves but it's hard.

Very nice pictures BTW, very clear! Thanks for showing them to us.

Hey, Marcia, if they eat all the dill can I move them to my fennel? Or am I going to end up buying dill from the produce department to feed them?

auntiejan - I'll bet the Hubby has bought me dozens of pairs of gloves over the years and I do wear them sometimes, like to trim roses, but sooner or later them come off and I spend Sunday evening trying to scrub most of the dirt off my hands so I can go back to work Monday. I wonder how my Boss would take it if I called in sick because I couldn't get my hands clean?????????

nova

Good for you. Maybe I should grow dill. They aren't on my parsley or fennel. Here's a sulphur that hatched the other day.

Sweet! I do love them so and this am dicovered a zebra longwing ovipositing on my corky stem passy vine at last!!!!!! Pictures soon I hope.

I don't know what swallowtail, but they aren't black swallotails. Here are black swallowtails.
{{gwi:863703}}

minibim - I had a hard time id'ing my cats because they were so small. But I worked backwards from the butterflies I have been seeing in the garden. My first clue came from the following -

Life Cycle: Winter is spent in the chrysalis (pupa) stage. Adults emerge in the spring and seek host plants. Females lay round, yellow to cream colored eggs on the leaves. Caterpillars hatching from eggs are initially black with a white saddle.

Your cats are more mature than mine. Mine are only 1/4 of an inch long. I will try to take more pictures as they mature!

nova

The black swallowtail cat starts out very different from how it ends up. They definitely are solid black with a white saddle (resembling bird droppings) until they are much larger. And even when they are big, they can be colored like your beautiful picture, Minibim, or they can be melanistic and very dark.

Nova, they will eat dill, fennel, parsley, lovage, anise and even carrot tops. When your dill disappears, move 'em over!
Marcia

I thought I would post an update of what my cats look like two days later. It is amazing how much they grow and change in so short a time!

You can see they look more like the ones minibim posted. Once again, my not so grubby thumb is in the corner for size comparison!

nova