More Dill Please...

Caterpillars have appetites!  My Dill is down to sticks.

But the caterpillars keep coming - quickly consuming the few leaves that dare to venture out.

And, since the Dill has been vanquished, they've crawled the forty feet over to the celery in my tiny herb garden.  "It ain't Dill, but it'll do."

I'd better get some Dill going before they get even bolder...

Dill is a Caterpillar Magnet

After reading many postings stating that Swallowtail caterpillars loved Dill, I decided to plant some for that express purpose.  By the time the plants were only three inches tall, they already had a large specimen dining on the fresh greens.  That particular caterpillar eventually disappeared.  I assume it went off somewhere to begin its transformation to life as a butterfly.

But now that the Dill is almost six inches in height, there are almost a dozen of the little caterpillars scattered about the frilly leaves.

The largest is presently just over a quarter inch, with most much smaller.  At this stage, they each have a small white saddle midway down their length.

The seem to grow almost overnight, so I'm looking forward to watching them gain in size and develop their distinctive white, black & yellow pattern.

If I am lucky, maybe one will stick around for the transformation.  Would love to discover a chrysalis amongst the foliage.