My caterpillar venture

Black swallowtail butterfly on the side of my fruit bowl.

The fennel was planted with one goal in mind - to try a new herb in my garden.
I have yet to use it in my cooking, despite it's similar taste to dill, but it ended up bringing another experience into my life - butterflies, specifically the caterpillars that lead to black swallowtail butterflies.

Fennel, parsley and some wild carrots are the natural foods of black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. I didn't realize this until I brought in some herbs for the dining room table as a centerpiece and realized there was a black and green striped hitchhiker on the fennel. I let it be to see what would happen, and as it grew, I investigated and learned that I could soon have a butterfly.


Sure enough, the caterpillar eventually made its way to the side of my old blue fruit bowl and formed a chrysalis there.

The black swallowtail caterpillar attached to my fruit bowl.

I was lucky enough to see the chrysalis formation and take video of it. Contrary to the concepts fed to me as I grew up, caterpillars do not spin a cocoon. At least not black swallowtail caterpillars. They bind themselves to an object in a sheltered area and shed their outer layer, which consists of the black and some clear bands. The green you see on the caterpillar is an underlayer that becomes the chrysalis.
The caterpillar writhes around until the chrysalis takes on an unusual shape that seemed awfully prehistoric. You can see photos from the butterfly's progress here: http://media.pottsmerc.com/2014/10/10/photos-watch-a-caterpillar-turn-into-a-black-swallowtail-butterfly/

I expected the caterpillar to overwinter, but instead it came out of its pupa one day before my boyfriend and I left on vacation. (Lucky for the butterfly since it would have been stuck inside my house with my cats for almost a week.)

Then, last week I noticed 10 more caterpillars on  my fennel. By the weekend there were only five, and I'm worried about cleaning up the leaf debris in my yard in case I end up damaging any chrysalis, so my boyfriend and I erected a tent around the fennel. But I have a sneaking suspicion they will crawl away under the burlap.
I just hope they survive the harsh winter.