Callipitters, Callipitters Everywhere

I have had a lovely herb garden. I went out tonight to pick some basil for homemade pesto and was brought up short. What happened? Callipitters. (Even at age 9, No Thank You Boy still calls them callipitters. Love that.) What they are is swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. What they eat is parsley; flat leaf parsley to be precise. All of the flat leaf parsley to be even more precise. Curly leaf parsley is only on the menu when all the flat leaf is gone, which will be pretty soon I think. (Note thriving curly leaves in background and stripped stems below). I am so nice I even planted extra for us to share (Pollyanna!) for them to chomp on. Every year it's the same: 'pitters come, 'pitters wipe out all the parsley, 'pitters go... and pupate somewhere else. We never see much of them as butterflies. At all. I finally wised up this year and bought a butterfly bush for them to nosh on. I planted it nearby so that hopefully they'll actually stay awhile after having gorged themselves on my herb garden. I'll let you know how it goes. Until then, how many can you find? Answer below.

Survey says: In these pictures, 12. There are actually over 25 lurking about.

Stay posted for the Pesto post.