Wow, you're really up to your eyeballs in cats now, Sherry! ;-) The Red Admirals and Gulf Fritillaries, the Giants and now the Black Swallowtails, and of course I know you've had other kinds too this year. This has been a great week for you! I don't usually see a Black Swallowtail lay eggs either; I always find either them or the cats sometime later. I think I catch almost all the other kinds of butterflies in the process of laying eggs, especially the Pipevine Swallowtails, but those BSTs are sneaky little things. :)
Cathy

Reading your post made me realize that I've never seen a BST laying eggs or even nectaring in my yard either!(I've only seen one at a local organic nursery laying eggs a couple of years ago)
Also, seeing your picture of MBW...I think that is what is growing in my meadow that I found cats on. I haven't seen a single flower on it...just seeds! All the pictures show pretty white flowers which I haven't seen on a single plant.
{{gwi:475115}}
Is this what you have?

I think it is, sure looks like it. Mock-bishop's weed is in the same family as dill and fennel, you could call it our local version. I've had cats on it before, so I just let it grow in one bed.

I brought the cats in to finish raising myself and put some rue at the base of each piece. I don't think I've got enough MBW yet to feed them all - I found another cat this evening.

I'd like to leave some seeds on the plants so they can reseed, but the cats will eat them all before they drop.
Dill and fennel won't survive the summers here, and I'm tired of fooling with them, I'd prefer to use the native host plant.
Sherry

Ladies, I had to conduct a google search to figure out your MBW acronym...it was driving me crazy! ;)

I have caught the BST mamas laying eggs twice...one on our fennel two years ago and once on some carrots at our church community garden last fall.

You're right, they are SNEAKY! We have cats on both our rue and fennel right now but they are all about 2nd instar...babies! I was hoping there might be some Giant swallowtails on the rue, but all I could see was BST's.

As for nectaring, I don't see them often but last year I was shocked to see a MALE (see photo) fly in for some garden nectar...think I've only seen females before

I've seen females the last two years on our obedient plants but those don't bloom very long and they are INVASIVE up north so I dug them all out this spring.

I also saw a couple on butterfly bushes last year. Where I've seen them MOST is mexican sunflowers. Last years crop was bad but were are going to have some nice plants this year! I'm guessing the BST numbers will be up this year with the early spring so keep your eyes on the garden, Tony

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:475113}}

Coolbutterfly, that picture is gorgeous! Both the blossom and the butterfly have such intense colors. Nice work.

Sherry - Have you tried Bronze Fennel also or just regular fennel? Mine Bronze Fennel gets kinda crispy late in the summer if it's really hot but it doesn't die. It always returns with babies the next spring. I wish it transplanted well. I'd send you a bunch of mine. They're popping up everywhere. I think it's better to start that one from seed though. I try to keep mine deadheaded but could leave some flowers to collect seeds from if anyone ever wants some. I don't think the seedlings are quite as "bronze" as the parent.

That's a beautiful picture, Tony - 'looks like a Zowie zinnia it's on. 'Sounds like your butterfly situation is good up there! :)

I think I've grown bronze fennel before, Christie, not sure though - if I did, it didn't last through summer. I don't think the sprouts could survive the mail, and if they somehow did, I still don't think they'd do here. I'm just going to keep on encouraging mock-bishop's weed, even though it makes messy piles - best way I can describe it - in the bed. I'm even going to spread the seeds around in other beds - in the back - if I can figure out when the seeds are ripe.

Imabirdnut - I've looked up mock-bishop's weed on the internet and found pictures that show bigger flowers than what mine have, but some pictures show flowers as tiny as mine and yours. I practically need a magnifying glass to see them, but the cats love to eat the seeds/flowers better than the thread-like leaves.

Speaking of More New Cats - the American ladies are still apparently at it. I released one a couple of weeks ago that might have been a parent of the little cats that are showing up on the cudweed in my garden. We've had a long dry spell, and now it's hot, too, so the cudweed outside my garden beds looks real ragged, some is practically dead, typical at this time of year. But I water the garden, so the cudweed in the shade continues to thrive there, also there's some in the same pot with a spicebush that's full of little AL cats. The nests are nasty looking, but here's a picture of one anyway - they make a beautiful butterfly!

{{gwi:475116}}

Sherry

Only 1 of my bronze fennel plants came back this year so I got new plants from a local plant sale.

I got my first BST eggs the day after I planted them.

Sherry, try the link for a good deal on plants:

Here is a link that might be useful: Bronze Fennel PLANTS

Now those are some cheap plants! I'm tempted to order some, but it's hot and dry now, so I think I'll wait until fall. I think dill and fennel live through the winter here, I know I remember the one time I had some that looked good was in very early spring/late winter when it was real cool, not too wet, not too dry.

Thanks for the info, though!

Sherry

The black swallowtail cats are really growing quickly, even though the MBW has only minimum amounts of "foliage" if you can call it that. I guess those seeds they're eating are doing the job, because, like with seeds we eat - nuts, beans, etc. - they have protein in them, much more than leaves contain. Anyway, one of them appears to already be on the last instar, the one with all the pretty green coloring. I didn't think I'd have enough MBW to feed them all, they'd have to eat rue, but maybe that's not so, maybe the MBW will do the job, thanks to the seeds.

Sherry