Category: Butterflies, moths & caterpillars

This is the bees’ and butterflies’ favorite plant right now. Mist Flower or Wild Ageratum (Eupatorium coelestinum) is in full bloom. Many of the summer flowers have faded while the fall asters and goldenrods haven’t yet blossomed. Mist Flower is drought tolerant – a welcome characteristic during our current Kentucky hot and dry spell. I also enjoy bringing it inside as part of a garden bouquet.

In addition to various bees, I’ve seen skippers, silvery checkerspots and monarch butterflies enjoying its nectar. The visitor above is an Ailanthus webworm moth (Atteva aurea). It is an occasional visitor in the garden and I like its unique design.

The butterflies and I have made the news. Susan Smith-Durisek, who writes a weekly garden column for our local newspaper, recently asked for information about raising butterflies. Her well-written article was published this past weekend along with photos by Charles Bertram.

I appreciate Susan’s article and I hope it encourages more people to explore and learn about butterflies and native plants.

These are my favorite caterpillars and I like finding them in the backyard. The first sign is when I find a leaf on my native Kentucky spicebush (Lindera benzoin) cut and folded like this.

When I open the leaf, I usually see a small spicebush swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio troilus).

In a week or so, I often find a large leaf folded in half like this.

When I open the leaf, this is my special treat.

Isn’t it a cutie? Those are false eye spots and the head is actually hidden under what looks like a mouth, but isn’t. The face is supposed to look scary – especially to critters looking for a meal.

The folded leaf is created by a web spun by the caterpillar. It hides there in the daytime and comes out at night to eat.

Eventually, the caterpillar changes into a chrysalis and emerges as a spicebush swallowtail butterfly. These butterflies only lay their eggs on spicebush or sassafras (Sassafras albidum) plants.

Spicebush is one of my favorite native Kentucky shrubs. I appreciate the small yellow blooms that are one of the first signs of spring, and I like the delightful spicy smell of the leaves. And, it’s the host of my favorite caterpillar!