Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Sunday - September 02, 2012

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives, Butterfly Gardens
Title: Type of non-native parsley for swallowtails from Austin
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

What is the best type of parsley for Yellow Swallowtails? Lost a caterpillar when it ran out of food from a parsley plant. I can't remember what kind of parsley. It would not feed on Rue, cilantro or dill.

ANSWER:

I am afraid you have reached the wrong number, in a couple of ways. In the first place, we answer questions about plants native to North America and the area where those plants grow natively. The second place is really the same answer because parsley is native to the Meditteranean area. We understand there are both curly and flatleaf parsleys, but that is about the extent of our information.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is interested in butterflies, and there is a butterfly garden at the Center. The butterflies that live in those gardens will be eating native plants, because that's all we grow at the Center. No parsley. We would like to help you, however, and here are two articles that can give you some leads and information on what butterflies eat.

Joyful Butterfly What do Butterflies Eat?