Melinda's Garden Moment Radio Tips
Melinda Myers
Nationally known gardening expert, TV/Radio host, author & columnist with over 30 years of horticulture experience and tons of gardening information to share! www.melindamyers.comMelinda's Garden Moment videos will help you create that beautiful landscape you’ve always wanted. Each week throughout the growing season, a new gardening video will be added right here, so be sure to stop back. You can also watch Melinda’s Garden Moments on your local network TV station affiliate.
The black swallowtail is a frequent visitor to many of our gardens. Its black 3” wings with 2 rows of yellow spots and 2 red eyes make it easy to identify. These fast flyers can be seen flying close to the ground.
Planting their favorite flowers, avoiding the use of pesticides, and delaying garden cleanup until late spring can help keep them visiting your landscape.
The adults nectar on flowers of milkweed, petunias, phlox, coneflowers, verbena, zinnias and more. The caterpillar has green and black stripes with yellow spots. It eats dill, fennel, carrot leaves and parsley.
This insect overwinters on branches, dead plant stalks and in bark crevices. So give them time to emerge from their chrysalis before removing old flower stems in spring.
A bit more information: The female black swallowtail butterfly lays its eggs on fennel, parsley, dill, and other host plants. Eggs hatch in 4 days when the colorful caterpillars emerge.