Black swallowtail

If I were Dave, I’d find a poetry postcard here. But since my Saturday-morning brain has the consistency of fried mush, I will just share the photo of this black swallowtail caterpiller (Papilio polyxenes asterius Stoll). We usually have several of the adults around but I rarely actually see the caterpiller or the cocoon. According to Texs A & M:

Host plants of the caterpillar include members of the parsley family (Umbelliferae) including carrot, parsley, dill, fennel and Queen Anne’s lace and some members of the Rutaceae (Ruta graveolens and Thamnosma texana).

So the critter should be happy in our ruined old herb bed where it will find everything on the list but fennel.

Well, actually the bed isn’t that ruined. It’s quite productive but I don’t have the heart to pull the Queen Anne’s lace — and see my reward, this lovely bloom to complement my worm.

I will have to keep an eye out for the crysalis when finally I make myself clear it all out, probably after the first heavy frost.

Speaking of Dave, you should go and see his black snake video. It has reminded me that I don’t remember ever seeing a black snake in the quarter of a century I’ve lived in Bourbon County.

__________
Gurney Norman, in his keynote address (the Clay Lecture) to the inaugural Licking Valley Writers Workshop, said all of us in the Licking Valley watershed are from the same place, though some are mountaineers and some are (relatively) flatlanders. Then he mentioned, gently, that nasty water quality in the headwaters means nasty water quality downstream.

I had a big time at the book fair and inaugural dinner, even sold a few books. The event was well organized and well attended.