I am slowly adding host plants to my yard.
For Black Swallowtail I am going to plant much more, I'm pondering Parsely, Rue, or Dill. I already have a bronze fennel that they lay eggs on 2-3 times per yr. Anybody grows these? and which one does your caterpillars prefer.

My black swallowtails get carrots. I tried planting Zizia aurea... Unfortunately, it didn't seem happy in my garden... Nor does parsley... If I have to plant something annually, I'd better want to get some personal use from it... As I don't eat parsley, but do enjoy carrots...

Luckily, gardening for other butterflies is easier... cudweed for the American painted lady:


desmodium for the long tailed skipper

agalinis for the buckeye butterfly

coffeeweed for the sulphur yellow

pasiflora for the fritillary

paw paw for the zebra swallowtail...

popular trees for the tiger swallowtail...

And this cute little critter on the Virginia pipevine:


And... then there are plants for moths like richardia for the tersa moth

and honeysuckle for the hummingbird moth...

And the Imperial moth who uses various trees...

and so on....

stone thank you for your excellent reply!! I just found out that the Luna moth uses the sweet gum as a host plant and I have a tree. Bought 2 pawpaws a few yrs ago and ordered some tulip poplar seeds. I had a Dutchman's pipe plant, don't know if it's still there, way too shaded by my gingers. Have seed but I understand it's persnickety, I'll plant those in the spring.
Desmodium is a type of beggar lice? My dogs come home with those so I'll leave that for the wild areas in the neighborhood. Have many of the trees the Imperial moth
likes also.I'm doing better than I thought I was!

At my house, I leave existing desmodium, I've even brought in types that I didn't have. Very attractive flowers, and quails and doves are said to eat the seeds.

The long tailed skipper will make do with your patch of climbing beans...




or even centrosema...

You didn't mention coffee weed!


As legumes, both coffee weed and desmodium should improve the soil while raising butterfly families.

As locally native plants... both should be there already.

When I mention growing Croton capitatum for the leafwings... I've had texas people complain about this native plant's supposed invasiveness... I haven't seen any invasive qualities in the 5 or 6 years I've been growing it.





As the leafwing butterfly has been difficult to capture by camera, link to butterflies and moths dot org:
https://www.butterfliesandmoth...

Stone, I actually had a coffee weed volunteer with caterpillar at one time. A flower friend scared me so much about the invasiveness that I snatched it up after the caterpillar departed.
I'm pondering some scarlet runner bean for the skipper, but I have to tangle with some runaway scuppernong vines before I have a place for the beans. I think I actually have a butterfly pea mixed in with that same fence.
I'll have to look up the croton, and thank you for sharing your caterpillar and skipper photos.
Speaking of cats, I have wondered a long time what is in your kitten's mouth!?

Coffee weed is not invasive!!!
Not sure why so many people are so scared of existing natives...
Coffee weed has attractive flowers, nice looking foliage... and very easy to pull for the compost... all around valuable garden plant.

Alternative to coffee weed... partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata)

The cat has a grasshopper, As a kitten removed from it's mother too soon, I was training it to hunt... unfortunately those black and red lubbers are supposedly toxic... The kitten refused to eat it, but playing with it? ok!