Our Butterfly Garden

photo by Mekea Hurwitz, Riverdale Press

The Enchanted Garden posseses much wildlife that amazes many who enter. The garden contains many interesting creatures such woodpeckers, cardinals, frogs, toads, goldfish, rats, and snakes, to name a few of my favorites. The garden attracts many insects that add dimension to the background. The butterfly garden is one of the most majestic attractions to hit the garden in years. We have been visited this year by the monarch butterfly, the black swallowtail, the eastern swallowtail, the mustard white, and numerous moths.

map drawn by Ebby Agu

Here are the features of our garden that makes this a great place to be a butterfly!

(with empasis on monarchs, swallowtails and whites)

• Butterflies need sun for orientation and to warm their wings for flight. We have lots of light, especially in the afternoons.
• Male butterflies will congregate near damp areas and shallow puddles to drink water and to extract salts. Our wetland environment is well suited for butterflies.
• The milkweed (Asclepiasis) is favored by the Monarch Butterfly as their host plant. You can see these plants on the fringes of our wetlands. They seek out these plants from miles away to lay their eggs on them. The caterpillars that hatch will remain on these milkweed plants and eat the leaves until they enter the pupal stage. Then they are ready to be full fledged adults.
• We also have lots of feeding plants or otherwise known as nectar plants for the Monarch throughout our garden: butterfly bush (buddelia), zinnias, vibernum, coneflower (Echinacea spp).
• Mustard Whites are seen frequently in our garden, and they like .... uh ... mustard plants!
• Black Swallowtails are also commonly found here, as we have an abundance of fennel and dill plants growing in all parts of the garden.
• Eastern Tiger Swallowtails like our poplar and cherry trees, which also are to be found in the forest part of the garden.

our butterfly garden, with buddelia in the foreground

Ebby's observations on butterflies:

• During the summer of 1999, I observed six different kinds of butterflies in our garden.
• Despite rumors to the contrary, butterflies and bees can co-exist. I have seen them chilling together with my own eyes.
• Butterflies can be caught, but be careful, as they are extremely fragile.
• By just sitting and watching butterflies , you can relieve tremendous amounts of stress. I know!
• Butterflies are a beautiful part of nature, and should be appreciated.
• Butterflies beautify a garden by adding life and motion to it. They attract birds and help make for a natural setting.

Monarch:

An orange and black butterfly that has tiger like patterns on its wings. This is probably the best known butterfly in North America.

photo by Peter Hall

Mustard White:

a small white butterfly that is the most common to our garden. This particular butterfly can be seen everywhere at all times of the day. They are as white as can be, and can't be missed.

photo by Paul A. Olper

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail:

A beautful yellow butterfly that is in the extensive Swallow family. It contains tiger like designs, and is sometimes confused with the monarch. Of course, it's color is a dead give away, and doesn't have the luminous orange of the more striking monarch. It also has the blue and red design at its base like its black cousin.

The Black Swallowtail:

A black butterfly that an extension of wing that resembles a tear drop. It also contains yellow spots lining its wings blue and orange designs at its base.