Every year I plant Italian parsley and every year one (or more) of these little guys makes an appearance (click on photo for closeup). The first time it happened, my initial response was not of disgust so much as it was curiosity of how this caterpillar discovered my garden because it's not exactly easily accessible. I've stopped wondering about that and have just decided that nature finds a way to do its thing. And I don't think they are so icky if I think about the character of Heimlich from "A Bug's Life", I mean, how cute was he? But this caterpillar seems to have quite an affinity for my parsley, as do I. So I'm left with the decision to either relocate it or let it chomp away and just clip the stems around him when I need parsley for my pasta sauce. I always choose the latter and the picture at the end of the post is the reason why. This particular caterpillar comes back to visit me later in the summer in the form of the Black Swallowtail butterfly. It's the reason every year that I plant parsley (plenty of it) and Buddleia (also known as Butterfly Bush).
Friend or foe? You can decide for yourself but why not try planting enough parsley to go around?
Bookshelf: Container Gardening Books
2 comments:
Hi Miriam this is a very entertaining and cleverly written blog/web page, and who wouldn't like Heimlich from "A Bug's Life". I think your blog postings are very educational that is for anyone who would enjoy reading an interesting story as it unfolds or for someone who has an interest in container gardening and its many benefits....looking forward towards your future postings.
Love the Butterfly photo.
Dadi
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