Friday, July 22, 2011

Butterflies We Have Raised & Host Food

Eastern Yellow Tiger Swallowtail - We feed the leaves of the Poplar tree which is in abundance in our area.

Black Swallowtail - We feed Flat Leaf Parsley, Curly Leaf Parsley, Dill, and Carrot top. Curly Leaf Parsley is more compact and tends to provide more food. The Flat Leaf Parsley and Dill tend to be more leggy. The Dill does not provide much food at all. I think you would want a back up plan if you chose to attract them with Dill.

Monarchs - They only eat milkweed plants. There are different types of  milkweed, but it must be milkweed. We always get these late summer/early fall. We usually release them at the end of October each year. I have never had a Monarch lay eggs on my milkweed any other time. The Monarchs that we release will fly to Mexico. Their chrysalis has been designed to be a thing of beauty. I think it looks like a jewel.

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