My friend, Carolyn, and I were comparing gardening notes this morning and I mentioned that something was eating my parsley. She sent me this picture to see if it was the same thing that she had on hers. Yup! That's it! Hard to believe that something so beautiful can be so destructive. I had a terrible time getting parsley this year and couldn't find any until long after my other herbs were well established. It was finally coming into its own and now it's nearly decimated. I guess I'll be buying cut parsley at the grocery store this year.
I did some online research and found that the caterpillar turns into this spectacular Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Some people grow parsley and other related plants such as dill and Queen Annes Lace just to attract the butterflies, which in turn will lay their eggs that will turn into the caterpillars. A beautiful circle of life.
If you don't mind getting a little creeped out, watch
this video of the worm having a magnificent lunch.
Turn up the volume and you can hear the crunching!
2 comments:
Wow can that caterpillar put away its food!! No wonder you have no parsley left.
I just checked m parsley plant this morning and it is ALL gone, eaten up by this beautiful bunch of caterpillars. I just found out they become the Black Swallowtail Butterfly, therefore I can not kill them. Thanks for your info on the Parsley Worm. It's the first time I've had the plant outside this year and I guess it was just meant to be shared this year.
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