A butterfly symbolizes acceptance of each new phase in life. To keep faith as everything around you changed. – Lisa Kleypas, American novelist (1964-)

Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come – Mario Quintana, Brazilian writer, translator (1906-1994)

Last week I noticed a caterpillar was consuming my parsley, the one planted in a flowerpot outside the garage door. There was only one medium-sized caterpillar in colors of bright yellow, white and dots of black. On its face were dots that look like eyes, two long stripes with a dot in the middle that could be a nose or a mouth but probably neither. Actually, it looked more like it was wearing a Halloween facemask. There were also what looked like “droppings” left on stalks of stripped parsley. I posted on Instagram a photograph with the caption, “You’d think he’d be bigger having eaten all the parsley.”

A friend, one quite knowledgeable of hummingbirds, butterflies, and all things nature commented, “You need more parsley just look at all its siblings!”  Oh my, those little black things weren’t droppings at all. They were more caterpillars, and I had just thumped them into oblivion. By the next morning all the caterpillars were gone as was all the parsley. They aren’t called parsley caterpillars for nothing. I would later learn the parsley caterpillar goes through five stages until it’s about two inches. The younger caterpillar is black and that’s where I went wrong on my parsley plant. I can only hope the little fellows made it back to the parsley plant. Probably so, since all the leaves on the plant had been consumed.

At that point I wasn’t really upset because unbeknownst to the caterpillar I had another variety of parsley, a flat leaf, in a pot on the back porch. Actually, I was more fond of the flat leaf parsley with its abundance of fluffy leaves. Parsley or not, it made for a pretty plant. There are only few occasions when I use parsley, however it does fancy up a dish or two.

The next day I went to water the parsley plant on the porch, and there were the caterpillars. They had all grown and now had their yellow, white, and black markings along with their Halloween facemasks. This time I didn’t thump any of the caterpillars into oblivion knowing that someday each one would become one of the Black Swallowtail butterflies that I love. We’ve had many butterflies this year, most especially the Black Swallowtail. The butterfly is human-friendly and has frequently lighted near me or even on me. It drinks from the water wells I create from plant saucers and rocks. Seems they also enjoy passing time on flat rocks near the steps of the front porch where they soak in the warm sun.

As I sit here in the sunroom the shadow of a butterfly dances across the floor. The average lifespan of an adult Black Swallowtail butterfly is 10 to 20 but can be up to 40 days. The caterpillars will eventually prepare for winter, butterflies will emerge in the spring, and I will purchase more parsley to share with my little critters.

Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].

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