The Butterfly Garden

Botanica’s Butterfly Garden attracts, retains and encourages populations of native and migratory butterflies. Hosts of nectar plants are featured in this garden with the goal of providing food for butterflies and flowers in continuous bloom throughout the growing season. Most active in the summer and fall, butterflies prefer temperatures over 75 degrees.

Host plants provide food for caterpillars and the puddling fountain is a shallow water source where the butterflies drink. Visitors spot different butterfly species and look for plants that attract butterflies to their landscape. Planting Butterfly Bush, Milkweed, Ivy, Herbs and Verbena are easy ways to build butterfly populations. Bringing Monarchs to your yard invites moments of magic. On their journey of more than 2,000 miles, the habitat you create can be part of an international migration.

Dedicated: 1992

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Art in Garden Feature Facts

Art in Garden

A series of three bronze statues feature children interacting together with nature and one another. In New Season, by artist Gary Price, and Skipper, by L’Deane Trueblood, children marvel at butterflies. Also by artist L’Deane Trueblood, three young girls hold hands walking through the garden in Playmates.

Feature Facts

Monarch Butterflies are most common in this Garden. In the fall, Botanica visitors help tag Monarchs as they start their trek to Mexico and California. The Monarch is the only butterfly that migrates and only the 4th generation makes the trip. This generation of Monarch does not die after two to six weeks. Instead, it migrates to warmer climates like Mexico and California. There it lives for six to eight months until it is time to return north in spring.
When the caterpillars become butterflies, they taste bad. Birds will not eat an orange butterfly. The Viceroy Butterfly is also orange and garners protection with its color.
Look for unusual plants in this garden like the Manchurian Lilac, a wonderfully fragrant plant that flowers in spring. You can also see the Pawpaw Tree. Pawpaw fruits start out green and then ripen through yellow to a purplish-brown. The fruit is described as a combination of mango, pineapple and banana. Fruit starts to ferment very quickly after it ripens, so it has a short shelf life. Thomas Jefferson was a big fan and ate them chilled for dessert. The foliage, particularly the young leaves, is a food source for Zebra Swallowtail Caterpillars.
Pipevine Ivy grows along the fence line of the Butterfly Garden. Caterpillars feed on it and become Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies.
Be sure to stop and smell the aromatic herb, Chocolate Mint, in this garden. It smells sweet but is very invasive. Container growing is recommended unless you want it to take over your garden.

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