Beetles are not butterfly or moth problems. Beetles are what usually most damages my various brassicas. I find plants that were started later for a fall harvests don't have the same issues. The beetles that mow down the mustards, etc. don't visit here later in the season. I get occasionally cabbage moth caterpillars s but they can be picked off by hand if a real problem.

As far as butterfly caterpillars, parsley is not the only host plant for swallowtail butterfly caterpillars, like I'm guessing you have. Are there queen anne's lace (wild carrot) plants around? It is a very common wild plant. Move the caterpillars there.

Here's a visitor I was happy to see visit my parsley this summer...

FataMorgana

Here is a link that might be useful: Host Plants

Heck no wild carrots etc I live in city burb.
Like I said I will smash every moth and caterpillar I see.They are my latest hit list. No more nice lady.
I wish I could send all my gobs of moths and butterflies your way. since you are glad to see em. LOL
My yard is decimated they land everywhere in my small yard and fruit trees.
I am cursed this year. besides the beetles, slugs,moths, wild cats, wind and drought now and in the high 90's today. But I wont give up. I leave alone frogs, bats and snakes etc if they were around
Now I will jump off my soapbox. Thanks all
Jean

I suggest that you cease growing host plants for these butterflies and moths. If you don't grow parsley (for example), you won't have Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars.

I am truly surprised that there is no queen anne's lace (wild carrot) some where very, very near to you if not on your property. It is one of those ubiquitous plants that you find anyplace people have stopped paying attention to or fussing with - city or not.

And for my soapbox....Nature is part of gardening - critters, bad weather, and all. And while I consider the carelessness that brought foreign invaders like the emerald ash borer which has officially hit my area to be something akin to a curse, I don't think of nature ever as a curse. How can you? It is not good or evil. It just is. We see the good and bad or the curses in it. But we can also see the beauty and blessings in a butterfly, a blossom unfolding or a tiny seedling stretching toward the sun. Your experience in the garden is what you make of it.

FataMorgana

Very well said, FataMorgana and I agree wholeheartedly.

Greg
Southern Nevada

You all
If you read my post the moths and butterflies are into everything I grow. They are destroying all of it. Not just the parsley. the caterpillars and "worms" are in everything. I see no beauty in that.
Definitely beauty in blossoms etc. and seedling reaching toward the sun.Nature amazes me. But no joy in seeing your hard work be decimated. Gardening to me is not just a hobby but I eat my produce. I gave up on flowers years ago. I still have a few perennials. I cant eat those. I like organic and being able to trust what I grow. My plums, apples berries. In my , mall yard.
I never had this problem, to this extreme last year. Course my garden space increased somewhat.
I had kale greens, broccoli ,cabbage(plants) I bought couple weeks ago in the garage waiting for temperatures to cool before getting in the ground.
Something probably beetles or caterpillars decimated those 36 plants slowly. Now I have one stem left out of 36 plants
But I wont give up. I have been gardening for many many years
Thanks
Jean

Jean - it sounds as if you have quite a lot of different pests working on your garden. A good approach would be first to identify which creatures you have. Some may turn out to be entirely uninterested in your plants. Then, if you want to fight them you will know your enemy and be able to target your efforts. Personally I'd give up all my parsley to have swallow tails in my garden. They are practically extinct in the UK. A simple net or fabric cover would protect the parsley plants. As for the cabbages, try to find out exactly what is eating them before condemning every insect you see. Some may be innocent bystanders.

Jean, I can certainly sympathise with you. My brassicas have been decimated in the past by caterpillers.

That's when I discovered Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis ) on the advice of someone in the veggies forum. That stuff works like a charm and is organic. I mixed it with water and used it as a foliar spray about once a week. Amazing results, no more destroyed plants.

Maybe give it a try.

Jean, I can certainly sympathise with you. My brassicas have been decimated in the past by caterpillers.

That's when I discovered Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis ) on the advice of someone in the veggies forum. That stuff works like a charm and is organic. I mixed it with water and used it as a foliar spray about once a week. Amazing results, no more destroyed plants.

Maybe give it a try.

Plant some for you and some for the pests after identifying the problems. Because without having some of the pests that you dislike you will have less or no food. Wind will pollenate some things but not everything. Use the cloth on your stuff and feed the insects that you need to produce your food.

Your fruit trees may have had 4 footed things eat your fruit. My new peach tree had one peach until the racoon came visiting. Of course he/she is paying for the visit by rooting out grubs and other things.