I'm in 6b, and want to get a good start for next years' swallowtail , curious if they are or not. Thank you

I think both may be perennial for you. I live in Indiana zone 5b and they were for me when I grew them for the butterflies.

fennel is perennial here but dill is not
Dill may act as a bi-annual some places but is usually an annual. It does self sow freely.
and the cats do love both

Ahhh, yes on the dill. I had a had time getting rid of it when I did not want it anymore.

Excessive heat kills dill hear. Along the coast both can be found growing wild year round ! Yep 😎. My fennel.hear in fresno ca. Grew all winter long.bloomed early. As the blooms and branches died back.i cut them back to the main stem.trunk.whatever you call it ? AND!#
They sent out shoots from the main stem.and bottom 🙈 of which almost emediatly started blooming. BLOOMING CRITTERS ! If you get snow or the ground freezes i would cover em with some hay or plastic tent. Is your dilll still growing ? If it is. It will more than likely be around next yr. If not I'd plant more of both now or next month. 😎😎😎

Well my dill is growing, but more flowers than leaves now. Interesting

Once dill flowers and sets seed it dies -- at least in my garden. But, unless you are very diligent about removing plants before the seeds have a chance to drop, you will definitely have plenty of volunteers coming up. ("diligent about removing plants" is a phrase that has probably never been used to describe me, so I always have lots of it coming up...)

Hahaha sandy, say you ever see monarch or swallowtail up there?

Brenden, our butterfly population has been WAY down since the horrible winter of 2013/2014, but this year I've seen a few Monarchs and was pretty excited to see a swallowtail caterpillar on a dill plant a few days ago! (other than making a few pickles, the butterflies are the main reason I let dill grow all over my veggie garden)

Interestingly, an official Monarch count is done on the Stonington Peninsula (which is just across Bay de Noc from Escanaba -- the nearest town to where I live) and they reported a very high count last year. )

Weedwhacker said:Brenden, our butterfly population has been WAY down since the horrible winter of 2013/2014, but this year I've seen a few Monarchs and was pretty excited to see a swallowtail caterpillar on a dill plant a few days ago! (other than making a few pickles, the butterflies are the main reason I let dill grow all over my veggie garden)

Interestingly, an official Monarch count is done on the Stonington Peninsula (which is just across Bay de Noc from Escanaba -- the nearest town to where I live) and they reported a very high count last year. )

Interesting, didn't think they would touch cold upper Penninsula. Darn. Well I start my vacation after work tomorrow, so I got 14 days to fralic and try and catch one, if I x an find them.


2 days ago, I saw one hovering around milkweed. I didn't slam my brakes, but I definitely stopped! Haha, got out, looked both ways... no cars coming, grabbed my net, walked across. Swiped! Nothing, but that gives me hope just seeing one

Maybe you could look for some "cats" on the milkweed and raise them at home?

Weedwhacker said:Maybe you could look for some "cats" on the milkweed and raise them at home?

I haven't seen a single cat or egg all year. Like the world has been tipped upside down..

Well... I haven't either, unfortunately. I have seen a couple of Monarchs flying around, but that's it. Really so few butterflies of any kind here for the last few years. Hoping for another mild winter and a big comeback of the butterflies next summer!

I haven't seen any cats on my fennel this year either , but I tend a garden in town for a lady and she wanted me to cut back her bronze fennel so it would not go to seed . She already has a nice size patch. When I went to cut it back it was full of caterpillars. I counted a dozen or more so I showed them to her and she decided to let it stand.