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Writer's pictureLacerta Bilineata

The Swallowtail: How To Attract The King Of The Butterflies To Your Garden


Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) as it is spreading its wings for the first time after emerging from its chrysalis, Ticino 06-2022
Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) as it is spreading its wings for the first time after emerging from its chrysalis, Ticino 06-2022

The swallowtail (Papilio machaon) belongs to the family Papilionidae; with a wingspan of up to 8 cm, it is one of the largest and most beautiful butterfly species in Central Europe. Its Caterpillars are mainly found on umbellifers (Apiaceae) such as fennel and carrot, but sometimes also on plants which contain similar chemicals, such as rue grave (Ruta graveolens).


The swallowtail in the photo above has just emerged from its chrysalis and is still spreading its wings. I photographed it in my garden, but there is a long story behind the photo that I would like to tell briefly.


The wild garden around my vacation home in the Ticino, where I shot all the photos you can see on my website (well, some have been taken a couple of meters outside my garden, but that still counts in my book 😉), had been a cause of contention between me and my mom for some time.


At the root of the conflict was the upper part of the garden, which originally had been conceived by my dear mother as a vegetable patch, but, left to its own devices by me after I "inherited" it, had developed into a marvelous oasis of pure botanic chaos teeming with insect life.


My garden in Ticino a few years ago, before my mom "took action"
My garden in Ticino a few years ago, before my mom "took action"

Mom was not amused. Although she - like all in our family - is very much in favor of letting nature roam freely around the house, and she loves all creatures big and small, she (unlike me) does draw a line somewhere. That line was the vegetable patch.


And she let her disapproval be known, and very clearly; she kept pestering me about my unwillingness to pluck the weeds (my response: "What weeds - there are no weeds: I'm creating a functioning ecosystem here, mom!") for several years, until my stubborn refusal made her reach her breaking point. She'd finally had enough.


My mom is a cunning old lady of nearly 80 years (79 to be precise), the matriarch and evil genius of our family (make no mistake: that house and garden are still HERS - and forever will be, regardless what it says on some sheet of paper), and so like a James Bond villain plotting revenge, she hatched a diabolic plan.


One day, when I was gone for a couple of weeks, she let me know via e-mail she had decided to turn this ugly weed jungle of mine into a flowery meadow. There was nothing I could do as she had already ordered a local gardening company to level that part of the garden, and once that was accomplished, as she described with obvious relish, the gardener would plant the most beautiful wild flowers and turn this ugly mess of mine into a colorful paradise.


I was not amused by this at all, as you might imagine, but there was nothing I could do to save my gorgeous oasis of chaos, so I grumpily accepted "my" garden's fate. After that, my mom avoided me whenever she could, and when she couldn't, she wouldn't mention the garden at all. This didn't strike me as odd, since I assumed she might feel at least a little bit guilty about her sneaky move (at this point, I hadn't seen the "improved" version of the garden yet).


Cut to a few weeks later, when I finally went back to the Ticino and finally DID see the "flowery meadow" and "colorful paradise" my dear mother had ordered. My jaw dropped. But in shock - not in awe of flowery beauty of any kind: as there were NO flowers of any kind. What there was, was sod. Plain, ugly sod, completely devoid of any insect (or other animal) life, already turning into a brownish yellow due to a lack of rain in the past weeks.


Mom's "flowery meadow" aka sod desert as I first encountered it
Mom's "flowery meadow" aka sod desert as I first encountered it

You see, my mom's Italian is not very good (in fact, it's so far from good that it could be argued she doesn't speak it at all) and as it turned out, there had been a "slight" misunderstanding. Instead of planting gorgeous wild flowers, the local gardener (whose Italian is impeccable by the way), put turf rolls down after he'd leveled my oasis; turf rolls of the kind that is usually used for sterile football fields.


OK (you, dear reader, might say at this point); sad story, bro - but what does it have to do with the swallowtail in the photo? The answer is: everything. The past autumn and all through spring this year I've been planting wild flowers in that garden like a mad botanist; I've planted field scabiouses and red clover, ox-eye daisies, echium, salvia and thyme and lavender as well as plants for the caterpillars of the in Switzerland rare swallowtail butterfly such as fennel and wild carrots.


Mom's - former - sod desert from the same angle as in the photo above, after I took action
Mom's - former - sod desert from the same angle as in the photo above, after I took action

This was my desperate attempt to undo the damage and terrible devastation my mother's wrath had brought upon the earth (well, my garden's earth anyway) and turn this sod-desert into an oasis of insect life and colorful paradise once more.



And it worked! Ever since those plants started flowering my garden has been an attraction for all kinds of butterflies and generally insects, even rare ones - and, obviously, my dearest guest and visitor that you can see in the photo above: the swallowtail.



These gorgeous butterflies are now steady guests, and they even laid their eggs on the fennel (which is now a nursery for cute swallowtail caterpillars).



So in the end, my mom's will prevailed (as is always the case with the wills of all moms all over the world - don't kid yourselves, kids 😉). My weeds are gone, there now is indeed a flowery meadow - and there's even vegetables (although the fennel is strictly for the swallowtails 😊).


I have a creeping suspicion maybe my mom's Italian is better than she lets on...


Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) on red clover, Ticino, Switzerland
Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) on red clover, Ticino, Switzerland

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