Munched!

Italian Parsley is one of my favorite herbs.  It grows well in most any type of soil, it needs little water, it stands up to all but the coldest weather, and I can snip leaves from the plant for two years before it goes to seed and dies.  Parsley also has a distinctive, fresh taste that goes especially well in dishes that are not subject to high heat.  If colors had taste, parsley tastes green.

Whenever I plan my kitchen herb garden for the year, there is always space reserved for parsley.  I plant enough for myself, then I add another plant or two for the caterpillars.  "Caterpillars?" you ask; yes, the caterpillars.  The caterpillar of the black swallowtail butterfly dearly loves parsley.  Since this is one of my favorite butterflies, I do not mind sharing my plants.  I snip parsley leaves throughout the spring and early summer, but when the caterpillars arrive in late summer, they can have all the parsley they can eat.  When they are finished, the plants usually recover well, and I can eat parsley leaves again until winter forces the plants into dormancy.

This year, however, the combination of heat and caterpillar attack was too much for my poor parsley plants.  When the weather finally cooled, they did not revive.  This summer's oppressive heat also took its toll on my entire herb garden, decimating everything except my chives.  Saddened, I began planning a small winter garden of kale just to have something green growing outside my kitchen window.  I went to my local co-op for kale plants and was surprised and delighted to find they also had Italian parsley!  Certain that the black swallowtail season was over, I only bought a few parsley plants, planted them next to the kale, and waited for the scrawny little plants to settle in and fill out enough to supply me with leaves.  Three weeks passed.

Ready to add some parsley goodness to a yogurt cheese ball, I took my scissors out to my herb garden only to find that my parsley had been munched!

Here is a closer look at the culprits.  Note that the caterpillars do not all look the same.  This is because they are in different stages of their life cycle.

When a black swallowtail caterpillar is annoyed or frightened, it grows little yellow, fleshy horns and emits a strong odor as a defense mechanism.















I was shocked to find my plants covered in caterpillars so late in the season but also resigned to losing more parsley.  Hopefully, my patience will be rewarded next year by an abundance of butterflies!  The plants have recovered somewhat, but not enough to supply me with fresh leaves this year.  I may attempt to transplant one into a pot to grow inside over the winter.  Meanwhile, I will use grocery store parsley for my holiday yogurt cheese balls and plan next year's kitchen herb garden.