Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The 'new' Butterfly Garden

Our new Butterfly Garden site, planted last fall and added to this spring has proved to be an excellent one.  Shelter from wind, combined with plenty of sun, has created a wonderful spot to see adult butterflies, and their caterpillars.

A recent Butterfly Garden tour (under the aegis of the Carolina Butterfly Society and the Garden) found us excitedly seeing Cloudless Sulfur and Dusky Orange caterpillars on Cassia, Black Swallowtail caterpillars on fennel, Monarch caterpillars on Common milkweed, and Gulf Fritillary and Zebra caterpillars on passionvine.  The caterpillars are exciting because host plants are a fundamental element of our butterfly garden design, in its new incarnation below the Children's Garden.

We saw plenty of adult butterflies, too. Quite a magical morning, in spite of the cloudy weather. Photos to come (it's been a busy couple of weeks...)