Feel free to post your pictures and information on your experiences with Butterfly Host Plants.

Host plants are those plants, vines, trees, & grasses that the female butterflies and moths use to lay their eggs. The host plant will provide nurishment, and shelter for the larval stage (caterpillar) of the butterfly, and often nectar for the adults too.

I guess I need to ID this guy....it is a Varigated Fritillary! It uses plants in violet family, it's host here is the ordinary pansy.

Hi Sheila!!!
a subject dear to my heart!! I just bought parsley seed yesterday but don't know if I got the right kind. I also am giving thought to about where to plant since the southwestern section of my yard is devoted to birds.

Most any kind of parsley can be used by the Black Swallowtails. Just so it isn't sprayed by pesticides or something. I've heard some say that one or the other type of parsley is better. But I think both would be used.

Just make sure where you put them has some afternoon shade, they can't take too much heat. We have potted the parsley and put it on the deck before also. That worked until it got really hot. I really have more problems with wasps than birds getting my cats.

I grew curly parsley last year but never spotted a cat. I did have pipevine swallowtail butterflies visiting flowers for the first time though.

I've grown curly and Italian, but they seemed to prefer Dill instead. Go figure as dill can look pretty scrawny as far as leaves go!

Here is a photo of a "herd" of BST cats munching down on the dill a couple of years ago. I won't tell ya what happened to all those beautiful cats. (sigh)

I have dill that looks very feathery and didn't see any cats on it either, hmmmm

Those plants in the above photo "did" look feathery before the cats ate them! LOL!

LOL!!!! I thought I was growing the wrong kind of dill, lol@myself

i'm here sheila. what kind of grasses are best for texas butterflies?

Gosh folks, I'm going to have to plant some dill.

does anyone have dill that reseeds?

I am not an expert but I can say that one of the best resources I have found is the Dallas Lepidopterist's site. http://www.dallasbutterflies.c...
Mamajack...
Check for grasses that are host plants on that site. There is a list on the links at the left titled "Butterfly Gardening". Under that click Host plants by name and look for the section of Grasses. The main ones are bermuda and St. Augustine; but there are many.

mamajack, I don't know!! Last year was the first year I grew any dill. Mine looks like it is surviving the winter but I can't see if there are new plants yet.

I have never seen my dill reseed, but then that has been the part of the plant that the caterpillars eat first!

The trick is to grow dill in a pot as well as your garden, then keep the potted dill away from the butterflies, that way you will get an endless supply of seeds! ;-) You can also cover one or two in the garden with tulle fabric as well.

Good advice Becky!

Thank you. I'm going to do just that.

Well i finally made it in, It looks like it is all very active already.
Great Job everyone.
But let us not forget DG!!!

Glad to see you here, Josephine! Don't worry, I haven't given up on DG yet. Still there and maybe things will work out. But this is such an interesting experiment!