Butterflies
Whenever I have grown fennel I have had a problem with big caterpillars stripping the leaves. Sometimes I would find as many as a dozen - more, even - working the stems. I am glad I can say I never sprayed them, but of course that wasn't out of consideration for the caterpillars. It was mainly because I never spray edibles like herbs. I must admit to manual extermination projects. Wholesale squashing.
Then I bought a new brand of seeds. These were dill seeds, and the very attractive package showed a big green-and-black, stripy caterpillar on the plant. I thought, uh oh. Fancy seed packages do not usually feature pictures of common garden pests. We are not supposed to be thinking about that part when we are getting out our wallets.
So Craig got on the Internet and enlightened me. These are the caterpillars who turn into beautiful swallowtail butterflies. Oops. I was picturing those nasty moths that wreck our peach crops. So I have called a moratorium on squashing big fat caterpillars on dill and fennel. We'll just plant enough dill for everyone, and anyway, it's not the leaves of fennel that you eat.
So I planted plenty of fennel and dill this year and looked the other way when the bronze fennel in the East Yard was positively denuded by an exceptional crop of big fat caterpillars. The bronze fennel struggled back after caterpillar season passed. And now, is it my imagination, or are we flush with gorgeous butterflies?
