We’ve waited 3 years for the Giant Swallowtails to find our 3 Wafer Ash trees (aka Common Hop Tree and Hop Tree). Although we didn’t see the female laying her eggs, we did find eight caterpillars on two of the trees last week.
Their unique defense is to disguise themselves as bird droppings. Isn’t it cute? It’s only about ¾” long in the photo – you can see the tip of my thumb in the lower left of the frame.
The trees were only about 2 feet tall when planted and are now between 5 and 6 feet tall. It’s been a goal of ours for a while and now we’re very excited that the Giant Swallowtail has finally joined our garden.
