After picking these I took a quick stroll through the garden. Wondering what is worth planting again next season and what wasn't. That's when I came across the fennel. I thought, "I planted fennel last season too and never had a black swallowtail use it as its host plant. Here we are again. No swallowta.....Wait! What's that? No way. NO WAY! A black swallowtail cat! Holy cow. Kids! Come look at this!".
He's just over an inch long. On the smallest of the three fennel plants. The second my husband got home I dug up the pathetic fennel plant and transplanted it into a pot. Cat still on it. Placed it in my InsectLore butterfly house. I can't wait to see him metamorphasize into a beautiful black swallowtail. I'm way more excited than my kids. I've been planting asclepias tuberosa, parsley, and fennel. Never found a cat before. Never any damage to the foliage. Today was my lucky day! Below is the best picture of him that my camera would allow. It always wants to focus on something else. It thinks it is smarter than me. Ugh.
Here's his new home for the next couple of weeks. I still need to get some sticks for him to climb up and hang from.
He has just guaranteed that the fennel WILL be back next season.
