Sulphur Moth

This lovely, delicate moth was busily flittering from bloom to bloom on our Rose of Sharon on a recent afternoon.  My daughter, who is being the master photographer, managed to take this picture while it briefly paused to enjoy this particular flower.  I have identified it as a sulphur moth.  There are so many varieties of sulphurs that I left the identification at that.

Why I Have No Parsley

My parsley has not been growing.  I blamed the soil mix at first but all the rest of my herbs are growing like mad.  Then I blamed the plants themselves, but now I know the truth.  


A few days ago, my daughter discovered this Black Swallowtail caterpillar on my parsley.  Parsley is one of their favorite foods.  This caterpillar appeared to be ready to pupate (form a chrysalis).  We planned to take more photos of it as it progressed towards butterfly-hood.  


Unfortunately, we have a lot of hungry baby cardinals in the area and the caterpillar appears to have been a tasty morsel for one of the babies.  Oh, well.  At least my parsley might grow now!

Swallowtails Everyday!

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Black Swallowtail (pic by my daughter)

These swallowtail butterflies are common in the eastern U.S.  As you can see, they both enjoy our Rose of Sharon.  The tiger ones were friendly and didn't mind me getting in close for a photo. The black ones, though, were very shy.  It took several attempts over a few days to finally get a decent photo.


For more info on these summer visitors, go to these links:


Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail