The giant swallowtails have been rather scarce around here this year but I keep hoping, we have their larval hosts waiting for them.
Good work on the article Christine.

Hello Josephine,

Long time, no see!

For whatever reason, this year we've had a huge amount of butterflies, of all kinds!

The Giant swallowtails definitely stand out, they are so big and beautiful. Lately, I've seen several of them laying their eggs on the citrus, none of them have hatched yet but I'm watching. LOL

Makes me want to go check my Ptelea for eggs

A long time ago when I was a teenager, my mom decided (why, oh why oh why!) to plant dill. So she planted dill. Right next to our bedrooms. My sister's, mine, & the master bedrooms all smelled like pickles for 3 years (the dill went wild & we couldn't ever get it under control). However, it also attracted tons & tons & TONS of swallowtail butterflies! I captured (if that's the right word) like 4 caterpillars & put them in (imagine that) a 1gal pickle jar with tons of dill for them to eat. Covered the top w/a nylon stocking & kept it in the garage away from the heat so that they were well protected. Had to replace the dill every day 'cuz they were devouring it faster than anything! Finally, I put in 6 sturdy sticks in the jar & they crystallized into their cocoons. About a week later, I had 4 gorgeous swallowtail butterflies emerging! I opened up the jar & GENTLY pulled out the sticks so they had lots of wing room to dry off. Those silly butterflies followed me everywhere that day, trying to get into the house whenever I went in! I guess I smelled like their pheromones or something. I ended up leading them like a mother goose w/goslings over to the area where all the dill had grown & they fluttered off that area. There had to have been 50 butterflies in that small patch (about 20x20)! It was awesome. Every year thereafter there was tons of them because of the dill. Small smelly price to pay for such beauty.

I get these types of swallowtails here:

It's amazing how something that looks like bird poop can turn into such a beautiful creature! I enjoyed the article and pictures, Christine, thanks.
And Toni, what a fun story--that must have been thrilling!

I love the great photos, and how wonderful to know the much loved butterfly caterpillars really don't harm our gardens.

Thanks everyone. It was fun watching them! I saw one out the window, just today, fluttering on a citrus tree. I must say, I was happily surprised at how the trees seemed unharmed, aside from some leaves eaten, by the caterpillars. I've seen a single grasshopper or Katydid (They eat everything!!!) do more damage to the citrus trees!!

Toni, that is a great story! I think that's a Tiger swallowtail in the pics. I grow a little bit of dill and it always seems to have a couple of caterpillars on it.. at first my dh would think I was leaving some worm on the dill and he would be upset because he LOVES fresh dill... but now he has accepted that he has to share!!!

Wow, they're also called Citrus Swallowtail. Get an eye-full here:

http://www.google.co.vi/search...

Sad to say, there's another swallowtail that's a swift flyer, and that's a real bad guy for citrus. A smaller butterfly, and pale cream colored with black stripes and markings. On its' way to Florida from South America. I've seen a few here. Tho' I don't have a photo.

Lovely, informative story Christine. And you too Toni. I adore the flutter bys!
The giant swallowtails remind me of kites, they are so huge.
We have a lot of tigers & even more pipevine swallowtails on our property. Can't wait to plant both some citrus as well as dill. BTW, I happen to like the aroma of the dill wafting around.

Haven't seen them this year or last, but hopefully they will be back soon. I have Hop Trees, a species of toothache tree and Rue, all host plants for the caterpillars of the Giant Swallowtail. I'm just waiting for the butterfly to come back now that the drought is over (hopefully!).

Me too Linda, we have seen very few around here, we do have a lot of Pipevine swallowtails, they are also very pretty, but oh so restless.

OMG, those pipevine swallowtails are GORGEOUS!! WOW! I wish I could see one IRL live....

Thanks Mellissa and Ann! And the caterpillars are also called "Orange dogs."

I hope they show up for you, Linda, and Josephine! There's still time! Is it the Hercules Club/toothache tree (Zanthoxylum clava- herculis) that you have? I forgot that one in my list...

The pipevines ARE another pretty swallowtail! But, they are all beautiful!

Chrisitne, it's Zanthoxylum hirsutum, a smaller size toothache tree that can tolerate the poor soils and drier climate of the Hill Country.

I just bought a small Hop tree and it came with 5 Giant Swallowtail cats on it. As the tree is tiny I have set it for now next to my Wild Lime bush

Allright Wren!

Do the giant swallowtails like the Hercules Club? We have several of those on our property. But I haven't seen them bloom yet. When do (the kind you have) they bloom for you Linda & for you Christine?

fiwit said:Makes me want to go check my Ptelea for eggs

No eggs

That is so neat, Wren!!

But not happy news from Fiwit!

Ann, so funny that you asked that because I was wondering the same about mine, I've never seen it bloom yet, maybe it's too young? It's about five years old... I need to check into that!

I have seen toothache trees bloom while quite small, I guess it depends on many different factors. The flowers are very inconspicuous so they can be easily missed.

Mine is not planted in a very good spot...it's out on the property. It hasn't grown much and hasn't bloomed. I've seen other bigger ones bloom in the wild.