In
addition to creating a welcoming environment for butterflies,
the garden provides an opportunity for audience awareness
and education. Rather than focusing solely on the end product,
the garden directs attention toward all aspects of the butterfly
life cycle. To further educate the public, four plaques were
installed, each illustrating the stages of metamorphosis for
a different butterfly species.
The
butterfly garden must be viewed as an ongoing project. That
is, the site will need to settle in for a year or so, giving
the plants time to get established. Following this, continuous
study will be neccessary to determine which butterfly species
are attracted to the site and how the garden may be adjusted
to accommodate their needs.
Recently,
while visiting my favorite butterfly garden with a group of
grade school teachers, one of the major questions I heard
asked was, ''What are we supposed to be looking at?'' It is
a good question, indicative of our cultural need for immediate
gratification, as well as our impatience with all things natural.
But the most telling part of the question is the notion of
looking at something. Standing away, we see things based on
our intellectual and aesthetic training. We compare, contrast,
criticize and appreciate a display. I hope this butterfly
garden becomes something more, an oddly kept amalgam of weeds
and plants, piles of clippings stacked near their source,
an obvious sense of unmanicured chaos, which under close inspection
is filled with life and purpose. A place where the inquiring
mind can search and discover, where careful and present awareness
is rewarded by the flash of a caterpillar's colorful coat
or the camouflage of a chrysalis.
By
briefly introducing simple concepts like larvae plants and
nectar plants, the garden will whet the appetite of the curious.
A tour of the undergrowth ''belly down and nose in the dirt'',
may nurture a visitor long after he or she has left. The garden
is meant to be experienced, not just looked at.
My
partners and I envision for the future a wildlife corridor
of interconnecting green spaces designed with habitat needs
in mind. It will promote the propagation and movement of wild
creatures, and encourage awareness of Nature's wonders, even
within the heart of the city.
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Gray
Hairstreak
Strymon Melinus
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Sticky
Monkey Flower
Mimulus Aurantacus
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Butterfly
Life Cycle
Drawing On Ceramic tile
16 inches by 16 inches
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