Do you support Caterpillars?

[Jewels19]

I use to always freak out and mush the little things...but I find planting certain flowers in your gardens, will keep them away from any precious plants you may own..I brought this guy inside for my kids..we are watching him transform..I've been feeding him his host plant and some leaves off my hubby's parsley..Shhhh lol

Swallowtail

 

[Reinbeau]

Yep, I get them every year, they eat the dill and the parsley - but never enough to do damage. Lovely things, aren't they?

 

[HiDelight]

since I adore butterflies ..so I have to love caterpillers ..and I plant for them they are wonderful creatures


unless you have a ton of them and they eat all your plants, that has never happened to me so I am happy

 

[Greenthumb18]

I like having them around , don't bother me. Last year i had a few monarch butterfly caterpillers on my fennel bulb plants, it was great to see them. Fennel is supposed to be a magnet for butterflies to lay their eggs on. Then when they emerge as a butterfly and return to your flowers is pretty cool.

 

[kathyschix]

Absolutely!

My avatar is a monarch chrysalis that I "grew" last summer. I "grew" some swallowtails too. Along with the garden and the chickens, butterfly raising is addicting!

I planted a big butterfly garden last year with host and nectar plants. Have a special planting bed outside of our fence (away from the furry pets!) with just milkweed for the monarchs to lay their eggs. And I had our very modest "habitat" certified as a Monarch Waystation. Every little bit helps I suppose!

More info about the Waystation program here:

http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/

I have to head out for the day but will try and post some pictures later.

Regards,

Kathy

 

[GrowinVeggiesInSC]

I did a happy dance when my milkweed came up - I am hoping to get some monarchs (caterpillar and butterflies) this year. I love butterflies of every kind, though, and unless they are tent caterpillars (I HATE those), I let them do their thing.

ETA: My avatar is a caterpillar I found while walking in the woods. I don't know what kind he is.

 

[Jewels19]

I did a happy dance when my milkweed came up - I am hoping to get some monarchs (caterpillar and butterflies) this year. I love butterflies of every kind, though, and unless they are tent caterpillars (I HATE those), I let them do their thing.

ETA: My avatar is a caterpillar I found while walking in the woods. I don't know what kind he is.

I researched caterpillars, no luck finding the species of your avatar. Looks like it will become a moth?

 

[GrowinVeggiesInSC]

I did a happy dance when my milkweed came up - I am hoping to get some monarchs (caterpillar and butterflies) this year. I love butterflies of every kind, though, and unless they are tent caterpillars (I HATE those), I let them do their thing.

ETA: My avatar is a caterpillar I found while walking in the woods. I don't know what kind he is.

I researched caterpillars, no luck finding the species of your avatar. Looks like it will become a moth?

Yes, possibly. I need to get myself a good butterfly/moth ID guide. I'd never seen one like that before, and I didn't have any luck researching on the internet.

 

[Jewels19]

I did a happy dance when my milkweed came up - I am hoping to get some monarchs (caterpillar and butterflies) this year. I love butterflies of every kind, though, and unless they are tent caterpillars (I HATE those), I let them do their thing.

ETA: My avatar is a caterpillar I found while walking in the woods. I don't know what kind he is.

I researched caterpillars, no luck finding the species of your avatar. Looks like it will become a moth?

Yes, possibly. I need to get myself a good butterfly/moth ID guide. I'd never seen one like that before, and I didn't have any luck researching on the internet.

Yea, my eyes were starting to go googly trying to find the species.. That caterpillar is pretty tho'

 

[Reinbeau]

I did a happy dance when my milkweed came up - I am hoping to get some monarchs (caterpillar and butterflies) this year. I love butterflies of every kind, though, and unless they are tent caterpillars (I HATE those), I let them do their thing.

ETA: My avatar is a caterpillar I found while walking in the woods. I don't know what kind he is.

That's not a very nice caterpillar, it's one of the tent caterpillars, the kind that makes those messy webby nests in trees and eats all of the leaves. Eastern Tent Caterpillar is my guess.