Want to hatch swallowtail butterflies this summer with the kids?

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PennyinCanada

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I learned how to do this from a home schooling family. If you plant dill and parsley in your garden or flower bed, swallowtail butterflies will come and lay eggs on the plants. An ice cream pail with a j-cloth covering the top with an elastic makes a nice caterpillar home and it’s a safe place that birds cannot find and eat them. Watch them grow. They are actually a very nice caterpillar that changes color dramatically as they grow. Feed them parsley and provide sticks for them to become a chrysalis on. Here are some I hatched last summer…

i168.photobucket.com/albums/u174/pennypie_2007/DSCN6584_zpsiktnnh6t.jpg

The underside is different from the top and has a lovely orange…

i168.photobucket.com/albums/u174/pennypie_2007/DSCN6583_zpsfadrjtcx.jpg

Here is a butterfly hanging it’s wings to dry after emerging from the chrysalis…

i168.photobucket.com/albums/u174/pennypie_2007/DSCN5862_zpsqydpdyhg.jpg

The blue must be seen to be believed. It’s a stunning metallic blue that catches the light just like those metallic car finishes… This photo was taken in low light but the blue just catches the light easily.

i168.photobucket.com/albums/u174/pennypie_2007/DSCN6079_zps3rcrbwiu.jpg

Let me know if you will plant dill and parsley this year and will watch out for the caterpillars, kay? 😃
 
Beautiful. I plant milkweed in the backyard to attract the monarch’s to lay their eggs.
 
How cool is that! I’m a sucker for everything butterfly, so this is right up my alley.
 
I love to see butterflies. I would like to have a garden that attracts them. Thanks for the encouragement! God bless.
 
I was thinking of getting a butterfly tent for my daughter this summer. I had never done it before but I’ve seen them in schools.
 
That’s a pretty swallowtail. Do you know what type it is? Here in Washington, tiger swallowtails are very common in the summer.
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