I have found that the flowers of all the plants in the carrot family attract large numbers of insects including many types of wasps and hover flies, tiny beetles, etc. If you let the parsley and carrots flower in their second year they will be insect magnets too. In my yard the fennel, parsley, and goldenrod flowers attract the greatest number and variety of insects by far. It is fascinating to watch the swarm surrounding them when they are at their peak. If the swarm bothers you, but you still want the foliage for the caterpillars just cut off the flower stalks. The rue flowers are not as busy and it seems to be a last choice as far as black swallowtail eggs at least here. It is an attractive plant though and may get giant swallowtails to lay on it as well. Be careful when working with it though because it may cause some light sensitive skin blistering in people. I would make sure that the peat moss never dries out until the seedlings get a good start because once it dries out it is pretty hard to re-wet.

Tracey, I hear ya about the not having energy or eyesight to collect the eggs. I'm also pretty tempted to wait until they hatch. Even so, I probably wouldn't be able to see them until they're in their second stage (the next step up from teeny tiny lol). I'd say that those cats on your parsley are BSTs unless there is something else that eats it that I don't know about. Susan, You sound exactly like me because I'd be misplacing it too. I misplace a lot of things! Sorry to hear about your eyes. So I guess lasik doesn't last forever then? Or maybe it's just with some people? We don't have insurance and I'd never be able to afford that. Even with the insurance that we did have when my DH had a job that included insurance, I don't think that it covered lasik surgery. Is it considered to be cosmetic? I'm so nearsighted it's not even funny. My husband had said years ago about getting it but I said for one thing, I don't trust any operation on my eyes unless it was a last resort, and for another thing, he would have had to pay for it. We couldn't and still can't afford something like that. Yeah, I bet that was great for you not having to wear anything but reading glasses for all that time. I wouldn't know how to act. zebz, Thanks for that lorgnette recommendation. I'm going to google that. It might help both Susan and me. I really do have a time out there! :O tdr4 (Sorry I forget your real name ha), From this thread I'm finding out that there are others out there like me who have trouble finding them. I really thought maybe it was just me because I don't remember anyone mentioning it before. It really does about make my eyes go buggy to look for those eggs. It's not as bad to look for the cats but still it's not very easy when they're just real little. It sounds like you'll be busy soon raising BST cats, and I bet you're relieved that you'll have all that time this summer since school will be out then. Susan, Since you mentioned zizia, I wanted to mention something. I was saving a plant outside because I had googled zizia and thought what I had was a zizia but now I'm not so sure. My neigbhbor came over one day and saw it blooming and said something like, "Oh, what a pretty mustard plant you have!" Huh? I thought it was a zizia! Now I don't know what I have. Are zizias also known as mustard plants? If you don't know, I can try to look it up. Thanks, everyone! Cathy

Congrats Mary! Especially the Black Swallowtail cats. They seem to be at a premium this year. I gave up on the BSTs and ordered some from Edith. I've only seen two really early this year, and none since. Today I had Monarchs in my yard for the first time since I released the ones I raised. And I had a big, beautiful Cloudless sulphur hanging out around the garden. I don't know if there are any eggs, been too busy to check. Tomorrow I fly to Kentucky to see my two grandsons. I'm looking forward to the trip. Butterflies will have to wait until I get back home. A friend is cat sitting. ; ) Sandy

MissSherry, I took a picture this week of a BST cat shedding its skin. It's a funny pic, as another cat kept intruding. I thought a good caption would be, "Do you mind, I'm changing!" When I first saw the cat, it was dark and dull. It looked unhealthy. Then I noticed that it was molting. I watched the whole process, as did that other nosy caterpillar! So possibly that dead-looking cat that you saw was getting ready to molt. I'll try to post my pics when I get a new computer--mine is about 10 years old and is starting to have problems. I lost a port so I can't connect my camera or a card reader any more. I also got a good shot of a newly hatched PV and 2 more trying to break through the egg shells. You can see their little black heads just peeping through the top of the eggs. Sandy