Silly Parsley Question

Do caterpillars care if the parsley is Italian, curly, or extra triple curled, as in the seed packet I bought yesterday? Also, I read that different caterpillars are attracted to different host plants. What do monarch caterpillars like in addition to parsley and fennel? Thanks.

Don't know for sure but the nurseryman at Lucas gardens here in Florida told me to plant the curly. Karen

I know the cats I had loved the curly parsley. I bought two small pots on a Friday and by Monday they were eaten down to nubby stems :) I have no idea where that cats came from but there were two huge lime green ones knawing down the leaves before I even got them potted up!

tangerine,monarch's love the milkweed.The monarch cats I've been raising this past month have eatten through over 20 one gallon pots of milkweed.Thank GOD I've been able to find it to feed them.I just posted some pictures inside of my butterfly cage .
Don

Tangerine.. just about every butterfly has its own favorite food known as host plant. milkweed (asclepias) for monarchs; rue and the variously named hop-ash/potato-chip/wafer-ash tree for giant swallowtails; carrot, parsley, fennel and dill for black swallowtails; candlestick bush, a senna species, for cloudless sulfurs; compositae daisies for painted ladies; pipevines (aristolochia) for pipevine swallowtails; willow, cherry, peach and cottonwood trees for the tiger swallowtail

I have found planting both the curley and the italian that the butterflies prefer the curley to lay their eggs on.

Dear Ms. Munchken,

I have already planted the Italian parsley for butterfly consumption. I guess next year I will have to try the curly also. I also have planted the Bronze Leaf Fennel. Will it make a difference in swallowtail cats enticed? I haven't seen a black swallowtail in my yard here since I was a boy (54 yo). I had hoped what I have planted will attract an anise swallowtail.

Dear Tangerine,

Good luck in your search!!! I have tried to attract butterflies and so far, I have made a lot of mistakes but I will not give up...LOL

Thanks,

Chuck

After I posted this question I read in several different places that butterflies do in fact have a preference for curly, not Italian parsley. I wish I could remember where I read this but I can't.

Thanks for all the suggestions, and Chuck, I also read not to be surprised if the butterflies in your area don't go for the usual suspects like salvia, but to experiment and make note of what they do like, so it sounds like you're on the right trail.

I've always had curly and and they will eat it but if I've got fennel that's their first choice.

Is that bronze fennel? I was planning on getting some. I don't know much about fennel other than the bulb type used in cooking.

Mine have always preferred the green fennel. I have planted bronze several times but they always use the green first. The bronze always seemed to get aphids too. That might just be in my area and have something to do with the heat tho. ?

Good information about the parsley. I wondered about that, too. And green fennel over bronze--interesting too.

Does anyone plant Rue for your butterflies, too? I heard that was the favorite over everything...do you agree?

I plant Rue too, and fortunately it's still alive, which is rare for me. It's very particular about where it's planted in my yard. The Giant Swallowtail caterpillar eats it, and you better have a lot of it if they find it. They are PIGS!

Fennel is the favorite over everything in my yard for the Black Swallowtail's.

My BSTs like green fennel best. I wonder if we can grow Rue down here?

Does anyone have a photo of Rue? Mostly what the PlantFiles had was Ruellia, although I did find one Rue listed without a photo. I have never heard of Rue before. It would be interesting to try growing it here in So Cal.

Thanks,

Have a Good Day,

Chuck

This is Rue. I have bought and killed many. I haven't quite figured out exactly what it wants but this one has done well in afternoon shade.

One word of warning about Rue. It can cause a skin rash similar to poison ivy in sensitive individuals.

Chuck, you will have to refrain from rolling around it, just in case. ;)

My mom used to plant it under the grape arbors to deter japanese beetles.

You know, I just called the local nursery that I bought the bronze leaf fennel from. I spoke to one of their representatives who said bronze leaf fennel in our area were utilized by the local swallowtails. Her exact quote was "once a fennel, always a fennel." Was she giving me a sales pitch or is this right? Please advise...

Thanks,

Chuck

The ST's in your area might like the bronze over the green. It never hurts to try it because, it is fennel. It's just that when I have both choices, they always use the green. If that's all you've got then I'm sure the butterflies will be happy to use it!

p.s. not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but between the 2 fennels the bronze always got aphids on it. It still might be an area thing but I always have to keep my eye on it. Just a head's up.

This message was edited Apr 20, 2006 6:34 PM

In the years when I only plant the bronze fennel, the swallowtails don't seem to mind. They lay eggs and the cats eat it up! I guess they figure some fennel is better than none.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/312/index.html

I am interested in growing the swallowtail-cat-loving '"Ruta graveolens" (Rue/Herb of Grace) from seed. (Now that I have had Wintersowing success growing parley and sages and am hoping for success with the fennel I've become emboldened!!

From the plant files page it sounds like it is much more popular in Europe, quite a skin irritant, and also, by extension, I guess, a good plant for the garden if you want to keep dogs and cats out (and I wonder about deer?)... (Also good as a spice for cheeses, and it can rid you of internal parasites, too, and help your rheumatism)... So why not grow it?!! LOL

Besides a good plant for butterfly gardens, it's also appropriate for 'bible gardens' and 'Mary gardens'...

Apparently there are a lot of reasons to grow it, but it doesn't look like many main line catalogs supply seeds ....

But seeds are available from: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/monticellostore/631061.html

http://www.superseeds.com/herb_seeds.htm (scroll half way down the page).



Here's a cute butterfly garden web page from a school that created a butterfly garden. The pic came up when I was looking for 'rue', and they seem to be able to grow it (and not poison themselves).

http://www.hammon.k12.ok.us/elem/christian/butterflygarden/butterflygarden.htm

I'm excited about the butterfly garden this year. I have a lot of great herb plants coming on from my seed sowing this winter!

Dear Tabasco,

How is your herb garden doing now? I brought up this old thread to ask. It looks like from the photo that you are off to a good start. How were you able to do with the Rue and the fennel seeds?

Thanks,

Chuck

Hi, Chuck--

My herbs seem to be growing well in their aluminum pans--it's just a tad early to plant them out but maybe later this week.

I have used the parsley (three kinds) and oregano in spaghetti sauce. And various thymes on a baked chicken. Very delicious. I have not had luck finding rue seeds locally and will have to pick up a plant at the nursery, I think. Likewise the fennel. No sign of those seedlings. )-:

Sages are coming in very nicely. Mint is overtaking its neighbors. Lemon balm likewise. Chives and alliums are thriving. Cilantro is nice and green. My milkweeds seem a bit shy to peek out, though, which is a disappointment.

I have always felt that I was a klutz at seeds starting but this year I tried Wintersowing and seemed to have had some success. Now I recommend it. Hopefully I will stay 'on budget' wintersowing my BF plants and have lots of host and nectar plants for my monarchs and swallowtails.

Haven't seen any Monarchs or Swallowtails yet, though, only the white cabbage types.

How about your garden, C.? Any luck ? t

Well, actually the French Lavender bloomed this year for the first time. The plant was transplanted Spring 2004 between miniature rose bushes. I had to re-transplant it to the butterfly flower bed last Spring. This Spring for the first time it bloomed. The blooms are so different between Spanish and
French Lavender that I will have no problem telling them apart by foilage and flowers in the future.

The bronze leaf fennel is growing fast. The Italian parsley is growing fast also. I tried using coffee grinds in the soil and I think it helped them to grow. Between the rows of fennel and parsley, I planted annual zinnias for the butterflies. As a matter of fact, so far I have planted zinnias all over my garden where I could find a spot. So far, I have planted eighteen zinnias. I left a little space to grow twelve more, staggered by a couple of weeks for longevity of blooms.

The Mountain Mahogany that I planted last December is growing but I still don't see how it is going to be eight to eleven feet high. It is also native to our area so maybe it will surprise me.

We are plagued with snails every growing period. I pretty well grow everything organically but the snails and the ants get Ortho Plus. The butterfly bush is dotted with holes from the recent snail invasion. The new leaves show no signs of the the one (maybe two with ants) insect I can't stand.

The passion vine has several flowers so far this spring but no cats yet. As a matter of fact we have had no cats period this year. The Gulf Fritillaries have visited my backyard every morning but there are no cats yet.

Sorry I wrote so much.

Thanks again,

Chuck

Which butterflies like the lavender? All of them? I forgot about that. Good luck with the Gulf Frits.

Are you keeping notes or a diary on what plants the butterflies like the best?

Can anyone tell me what the height and spread is for Rue?

Thanks!

http://www.goodwincreekgardens.com/CatalogSpecific.asp?CatalogID=553

This site claims 2 feet high and 3 feet wide.

That is if you are in a climate that it likes and plant it in the right spot. In VA you will probably have more luck with it than here in TX. I've managed to keep a couple alive this year and one is probably 1x1 after about a year.

Tabasco, have you ever used the baggie method for germinating any of your seeds?

Hi you all,
My fennel is only about a foot high and already I have seen the swallow tails laying eggs and I'm freaking out lol They are going to run out of munchies, my milk weed and butterfly weed is only an inch tall, what am I going to do lol I've got curly parsley too (two inches high)but they always seem to prefer the fennel, when I started growing the fennel, they didn't even notice the parsley lol

CBernard, I'm going to try some coffee grounds maybe that will make them grow faster, thanks for the tip, but I'm afraid it's going to be too late for the fennel. I only have four plants, but I have more planted. I thought fennel was going to reseed, but saw no babies.

Tangerine_z6, I used to plant the italian parsley and had no success with the buterflies at all, but that was just my experience.
Lea

Lea, I'm right there with you! I have already had a BST lay eggs on my dill. The dill plants are about 6" tall and I've got 6 cats. I took 4 of them to my son's 1st grade class and they are just loving them but I'm afraid they are going to run out of food.

I dug up 2 plants today and will take those to the school but when those are gone I'm going to have to either bring a couple of the cats back to just sit outside or I'm going to go out today and buy some dill. Oh no, I can't do that! I wouldn't want it to have been sprayed with pesticide and then the cats die in front of the kids.

The dill has a really long tap root so it's not easy to pot even if it's small. I should know better and ALWAYS grow some fennel and dill in pots. I'll put that on my "to do" list and get some started now.

yes, I almost bought dill yesterday and was afraid it would have pesticide on it, I've had my fennel planted for a week now and it's just now starting to come up, going to be a while before it's ready and my butterfly weed and milk weed.
I heard that fennel reseeds and put a lot of seed out a couple of months ago but no luck yet, it didn't even reseed where the plants are, maybe it will come up later.
Good luck!
Lea

Can anyone tell me what this is?

Thanks!

How about this one?

I'm just guessing but the first one looks like a light phase Eastern Tiger swallowtail, maybe a female. http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/johnson/hort/Butterfly/TigerSwallowtail.htm
The second one, I'm pretty sure is a Monarch.

Thanks, Calalily!

Thanks everyone for the input about Rue. Since we are on the topic. Which type of dill is best?? My local nursery only carried "fernleaf" dill, so that is what I planted.

Yes, what kind of dill is best for cats? I would like to know so I don't start off with the wrong kind like I did with the parsley and fennel. My grandmother used to plant dill on her dairy so she could have it for cooking. One summer when I was eight or nine years old, she gave me a couple of the seeds. It was July when I went home but I planted the seeds anyway. The plants were sooooo tall. It was really fun.

Thanks,

Chuck

I have never heard or read of a specific dill being best. I just use whatever I picked up at the nursery. Mine doesn't get very tall, which is not really a good thing when it's cat food. It's a blue-green color and has a very strong scent.

The plants I have now came up from seed from the plants last year. The BST's used the fennel mostly last year but somehow the butterflies are aware that my one new fennel is not enough to lay eggs on. I'll go out and take a pic of it tomorrow.

Dear konkreteblond,

Hi! I found myself wondering about this old thread and wanted to ask you how your herb garden turned out. Our lemon balm is over three feet high and six feet wide. It is time to get out the pruning shears on these as they are covered with pretty little white blooms. Our lemon grass is as big as the original last year (we divided the roots). I think next year we are going to separate both one more time. Our fennel is not five feet tall. It is blooming but it is only about two feet tall. The surprise is the Italian parsley. It is about four feet tall and blooming beautifully.

The question that I would like to ask of you is: Does the blooming parsley attract more butterflies than non-blooming parsley?

So far this year, we have had a few butterflies explore the herb garden but no one left eggs(at least, I haven't seen the cats). Also, we have had no aphids on the fennel or the roses next to them after we planted garlic between the plants (our head deaconess at church suggested this). Could this be why there are no cats? Our local native plant nursery has told me that sometimes it takes two or three years for the local butterflies to discover the plants for them.

Also, next year I plan on planting dill weed. Can you tell me which kind is the best for butterflies? Are there any subspecies to avoid?

One summer many years ago, I was at my grandmother's dairy in the Ozarks and she gave me native dill weed seeds. They grew well here. I am hoping the dill you mentioned will, too.

Take care,

Thanks again,

Chuck