All I know is what I am seeing in my own little yard, but it’s not hopeful. I’ve seen many caterpillars form and munch on milkweed. They are not around for long, and I blame the abundance of lizards in my yard.
Nature is trying to adjust to all the invasive species, and honestly I think it is losing. Now, there are brown lizards which are invasive. Between those and the normal green anoles, the caterpillars don’t seem to stand a chance.
I’ve been growing and planting milkweed to feed the Monarchs but all I seem to be doing is providing food for lizards.
I’ve watched caterpillars crawl on the Milkweed. They get to various sizes and then they are simply gone.
The whole time I watched this caterpillar grow he went from milkweed to the rosemary and back again. They seem to like hiding out in the rosemary. Back in April a caterpillar crossed my yard to build a chrysalis on the rosemary plant.
I was beginning to think that maybe this guy was big enough to survive. Finally, a yellow wasp came down and stung him and knocked him off the milkweed! He was happily chowing down on a leaf and I saw the wasp come in and pop him. He ended up crawling down the side of the pot. He was down there for a while, but the next time I looked, he was nowhere to be found.
Black Swallowtail Caterpillars
Little black swallowtail caterpillars were all over my dill plants. I snapped these photos one day in May. The next morning when I looked for them, the caterpillars were all gone.
Although I think it’s unfair that no butterflies get a chance to form, it is not something I can change. Some people raise monarchs inside, but I am not about to do that. Many years ago I saw a black swallowtail butterfly emerge from a chrysalis. I had some parsley growing at the time. It is the only swallowtail I’ve seen make a chrysalis.
I can’t see everything, so maybe a lot of them do pupate. The Monarch caterpillars do tend to crawl to other plants and things. I’m only viewing them for a short time each day.
I do want to fill my yard with plants that accommodate butterflies and caterpillars. I can’t help what happens during their transformation. These plants also feed other critters. And the caterpillars are food for lizards and wasp babies I suppose. Who am I to say how it should go?
Hydrangeas Blue 