That's a great picture of a tiny little caterpillar, Angie! Congrats on the find!

I've got 3 little bitty spicebush cats, plus one egg and three chrysalides - unlike with many other butterflies, spicebush swallowtails are still flourishing here.

Sherry

Yeah,Yeah,Yeah!!!! How adorable! I am so excited for you. I planted a Spicebush this summer, so maybe I'll have babies to show off Ina year or so.

Martha

Thanks ladies! I am so so excited to again have the opportunity to watch these little guys grow and change. I'm glad that I found them when they were so young. I will check the bushes daily for more. Martha, I had the hardest time getting the Lindera benzoin established in my yard. I moved the plants 3 times before I finally found a spot that they liked. The winning spot gets filtered morning sun only. :o)
Angie

Spicebush is SO hard to grow, I'm about to give up - they use the sassafras bushes/trees that grow here. I finally got one to grow well on a site that's almost completely shaded when leaves are on the trees (most of the year) but sun comes through in the winter. Everything was going fine until we had a hot spell, our first for the year, and, even in the shade, most of the bush has died back! :( It was the first and only time it made it to ninety degrees this summer - this has been a very cool, wet year, so that was probably the only reason it thrived for as long as it did. I'll probably dig it up and plant something else - I have some shade loving plants in containers that would thrive there.

Sherry

Here is a nice shot for those who have never seen how easy it is to spot the little Spicebush hidey huts on the Spicebush plants. You have no problem at all seeing exactly where the 3 Spicebush cats are hiding, right? :o)
Angie