Eastern Black Swallowtail

A late summer garden favorite. Look for Eastern Black Swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes), in your home garden in late summer through early fall, especially if you have planted herbs!

Black Swallowtails lay eggs on parsley, fennel, dill, rue, carrot tops and Queen Anne's lace. Their eggs are tiny cream globes that will be glued onto the newest of the new growth. Check the extreme ends of your dill and fennel and look on the undersides of tiny, new parsley leaves.

The larvae have beautiful stripes and are lovely caterpillars but once they are established in your garden, don't expect to harvest any more of these herbs for a while. The caterpillars are voracious eaters and can strip their host plants bare which isn't always a bad thing. The larger larvae will eat even the older leaves that are less desirable and the plant will sprout new growth all over to make up for the consumed foliage. Check out this post on Black Swallowtails for more photos of the caterpillars, a chrysalis and displayed butterfly.