Wonder Wednesday

As I was wandering around the garden taking photos of what's new, I happened to come across the dill plant I had planted in the Herb Circle. This year I decide to plant numerous herbs in the small round bed I dug out last spring. Herbs are suppose to be easy to grow but yeah, I killed herbs before. Planted were Dill, Thai Basil, Curly Parsley, Italian Parsley, Genovese Basil, Catnip (for my brats), and Cilantro. Now, I'm not much of a chef, so the herbs are mainly grown for their scent and flowers. In particular, some were chosen specifically because butterflies and their caterpillers like them. I figure if I can offer the caterpillers the herbs perhaps they will stop chewing on my flowers. You should have seen the holes those suckers put in the leaves last year. However, I have to say I was stunned to see how well the caterpillers took to one plant!

I counted at about 13 caterpillars on this plant, which I am embarrassed to say I am uncertain which herb this is. This explains why I've had so many butterflies fluttering around the yard already. There seems to be three different kinds of caterpillars on the plant but perhaps they are the same kind and at different stages? Also saw some tiny black balls that might be future butterflies. Kinda cool really. The only thing is I better stop tossing bird feed near the circle in case any decide to snack on my future butterflies. I hope these are butterflies in waiting... I have yet to figure out which are good caterpillers and which are greedy pests.