Its some kinda Caterpillar, just go to the web site and it will tell you what everything is, it's very educational, at least for me it was.

It looks like a Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar to me. They're really very cool!

You are right!! You win a free photo from- http://www.joyfulbutterfly.com

Just click free photos, I uploaded all of them, I was just amazed at the vivid colors and detail.

I'm with Sheryl. That first pic of the caterpillar looks like a cartoon!

Karen

I agree, looks like the Cat of a Spicebush Swallowtail, cool looking caterpillar and beautiful butterfly.

http://www.google.com/search?q...

I would love to see the butterfly!

Susan: The Spicebush Swallowtail is on the list of Butterflies of Virginia: http://www.thebutterflysite.co...

I took these pictures last year but I'm not sure if these are the Black Swallowtail or the Spicebush Swallowtail:

Thanks for the link, nice pictures by the way! They do look very similar. In one picture on the link it looked like the male is black and the female is brown?
http://www.butterfliesandmoths...
picture #10

I planted a spicebush this past fall, hopefully, I'll get to meet one in person, soon!

Lin, I think those two pictures you posted do show a Spicebush Swallowtail. This site shows more:
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp...
Are there any host plants around there?
I grow Spicebush plants just for those butterflies. A nursery guy once showed me some Spicebush plants, then he showed me the caterpillars. Clever, wasn't he? Well...he sold me a Spicebush plant and I left with one caterpillar also!

Good job Linda.

Susan: I'm never quite sure about photo's on the internet. The brown ones they have labeled as the male but I don't know butterflies so I'm not sure which is male or female.

Sheryl: I bet you will indeed see some Spicebush Swallowtails in your garden this year!

Linda: We have lots of Cinnamomun camphora (Camphor Trees): Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora) around here and my Florida Butterfly book says that is one of their host plants. How cool that you got a free caterpillar with your plant! I just looked up the Spicebush in the Plant Database: Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) but there's not a lot of information. I'm going to have to see if it would do well in my area!

Yes it does seem that the brown ones are the male so maybe the black ones are the female. This website will list host plants by butterfly.

http://www.butterfliesetc.com/...

I used to think I couldn't grow Spicebush here. It's not usually seen in the wild around here. But the nursery guy convinced me that it would be fine here as long as I kept it watered. And of course, he was right. Getting plants from native plant nurseries in my general area does have advantages....they get most of their plants from local sources, so they are well acclimated to local climates.

I use two mail order native plant nurseries here in TN and their plants have never failed me. They are my favorite online nurseries.

That is a plus, when I order something from a cooler state, like getting hostas from New Hampshire, they take a while to adjust. My mistake last year was to plant them right away like they usually tell you to do. But now I pot them up and leave them in pot till they get adjusted and also till I find a good spot to plant them. Some things you cannot rush through, right.

So true. It's difficult to wait sometimes though.

Luckily for me, I have two native plant nurseries I can drive to. Neither one does mail order, so I usually pick a day and spend the day on the trip, going by both of them. It can really be nice in the spring...I really enjoy it. They have little demo gardens and I can wander around looking at plants or talking to the nursery guys. Only thing I have to be careful about is my budget...can't buy too much!

That sounds great, Linda. I enjoy things like that. The two TN native nurseries I use are a bit of a drive, but I would love to visit them both one of these days.