We had a few small plants coming along in the garden, so I set them under the mosquito net so that butterflies could not lay eggs on them until I felt the plants were large enough to sustain the caterpillars. They are such voracious eaters, once they begin to grow larger, and plants soon end up with no leaves.
At the time I placed the plants under cover there must have already been eggs on them that I hadn't noticed, so now they have all hatched and we have caterpillars.
Yesterday I moved a tiny caterpillar, that I found on an outside swan plant, onto one of the plants under the mosquito net. Imagine my surprise to see at least 10 growing caterpillars already on the plants.
OK, so I am in for an exercise in managing the plants, and somehow finding more when the caterpillars grow bigger, nevertheless I'm happy to see them already growing well.
Let the season commence.