Meredith79 said:It is good to leave some host plants for the butterflies! I do the same. I try to make sure I plant something for them too.
Last year I planted Dill mainly for the Black Swallowtail. None were seen last year, but some of the plant came back from seed. Sadly, the female came by when the flowers were already forming and some of the plants browning. I am not sure there was enough food.
I found out the Golden Alexanders are one of their native host plants. I thought to move the larvae to this since there are fresh leaves even though it flowered long ago, but learned they prefer to eat the plant where their eggs were laid. Bummer.... We bought five flats of the same gangly looking dill from the nursery. He never put chemicals on them... a rarity for him. Some of the larvae moved onto the new plants, so I hope they survive.
But to prevent this from happening again, I'll continue to let the dill go to seed, but I also got 20 Golden Alexanders from a local native grower and hope these butterflies come back.
