One of our special areas of VEG was donated by a very special master gardener. Cliff Knezek provided an great opportunity for us to build this Butterfly Haven.

Thanks to Frank Kanak, Butterfly Haven chair

When visitors come to Butterfly Haven on a tour they can expect to have a hands-on experience with various stages in the life cycle of a butterfly. The signs describe host plants and nectar plants. Here Fran Kanak is TEACHING Kid’s Camp children about butterflies.

What a beautiful addition for visitors to experience at Victoria Educational Gardens, since 2015.

Beth Ellis wrote this article about the special OPENING of Butterfly Haven. in October of 2015.

Victoria Education Gardens has always been a wonderful destination for those of us who love butterflies. On sunny days, visitors are treated to the sight of multitudes of butterflies, busily whirling and fluttering from blossom to blossom in their search for nectar. The thing is, we humans are so enchanted by these winged beauties that we often forget that this is only one stage of their complex life cycle.

Original tiny house

With this in mind, the Victoria County Master Gardeners built a tiny butterfly house years ago, so that visitors could observe at least a portion of the butterfly life cycle. While the little house was able to educate visitors about the mysterious progression of butterflies from caterpillar to chrysalis, it was too small to tell the full story.

As a result, the Master Gardeners have long hoped to expand both the size and the scope of the facility in order to help visitors understand the complete life cycle of the butterfly from the very beginning to the very end – and by extension, impart a better understanding of the role life cycles play for all forms of life.

Through a recent donation by longtime Victoria County Master Gardener Cliff Knezek and lots of hot summertime work provided by several master gardeners, that goal has been attained.

On a roll

With news of the donation made earlier this year, master gardeners quickly realized the time had come for a new butterfly haven at Victoria Education Gardens.

Planning
The planning process had to cover several variables. The butterflies and caterpillars would require food, water, warmth, basking and puddling areas, and plenty of flying space. They would also need lots of sunlight as well as protection from strong winds.

And then there were the people – individuals and groups of all abilities would need to be able to enter and navigate the enclosure easily, and they would also require close proximity to plants and insects for educational purposes.

Structure similar to swimming pool cover
Butterfly Haven committee members reviewed several housing possibilities, before deciding upon an enclosure normally used to cover swimming pools. The structure met all the required elements – a strong wind resistant metal frame and replaceable screening, a double entry system to help keep adult butterflies inside but also allow easy access for humans, plenty of room for walkways and flowerbeds, and adequate flying space for adult butterflies.

Construction

Once plans were finalized by committee members, it took only about three days for work crews from Specialty Shutter Systems to erect the enclosure. The raised flowerbeds, electricity, drip irrigation system, and walkway were then installed by master gardeners over a period of a few weeks. Installation of flowering plants and larval host plants have been initiated and will continue over the coming months as seasonal needs of the plants allow.

Circular walkway
The circular walkway inside the enclosure was carefully chosen to benefit both humans and butterflies. Butterflies like to bask, so flat pavers provide plenty of warm places for perching. Humans benefit because of the sure footing provided, and the width of the walkway easily accommodates wheelchairs, walkers and strollers.

Raised beds
Raised flowerbeds inside the haven provide ample space for both nectar plants and caterpillar food plants. Resident butterflies will also enjoy a puddling area where they can obtain water, minerals and other nutrients.

Host plantings
An arbor is planned for the entrance of the butterfly haven, and raised flowerbeds have been constructed to encircle the exterior of the structure. As with the interior planting, the arbor and the exterior flowerbeds will be planted with a selection of flowering and host plants attractive to butterflies and their caterpillars.

Looking ahead

Next week, we will discuss the butterfly species, flowering plants, and caterpillar host plants to be added to the Victoria Education Gardens Butterfly Haven.

Butterflies Have a New Habitat by Beth Ellis – Gardeners’ Dirt, Nov. 1, 2015

As mentioned in last week’s article, the Victoria County Master Gardeners have been hard at work during the past few months building a new butterfly haven at Victoria Education Gardens. The haven will be stocked with butterflies, nectar plants and caterpillar host plants so visitors can closely observe the entire butterfly life cycle – from egg, through the caterpillar and chrysalis stages and on to adulthood.

The Victoria Education Gardens butterfly haven is intended to act as an interactive opportunity for visitors to learn to identify native butterfly species and their caterpillars, what types of caterpillar host plants and butterfly nectar plants work best to attract them, and in the process gain lots of ideas they can apply to their own gardens.

Butterfly species

Several native butterfly species will be stocked in the haven over the course of the next few months.

Three swallowtail species will be represented, including yellow and black giant swallowtails, and the mostly black/iridescent blue eastern black and pipevine swallowtails. Monarchs as well as similarly appearing queen butterflies will stand out with their familiar orange and black coloring, as will eye popping orange-winged Gulf fritillaries. Visitors will also see buckeye butterflies, sporting wings decorated by large iridescent eyespots.

Caterpillar host plants

In order to attract and support butterfly species, it’s important to include caterpillar host plants as well as flowering plants in any garden scheme. While adult butterflies can be fairly indiscriminate regarding nectar sources, their caterpillars are quite specific in their choice of food plants. Without the correct host plants upon which to feed, caterpillars will simply not survive.

Wise gardeners therefore include abundant host plants in addition to flowering plants in their flowerbeds, so that their gardens will quickly become occupied by recurring generations of home grown butterflies.

Host plants reflect species

Host plants included in the planting scheme for the butterfly haven at Victoria Education Gardens reflect the species to be stocked. Milkweed provides food for the caterpillars of both monarchs and queens. Gulf fritillary caterpillars feast on passionvine, and pipevine provides fodder for pipevine swallowtail caterpillars. Giant swallowtail caterpillars enjoy munching on citrus leaves, while parsley and fennel feed black swallowtail caterpillars. The caterpillars of buckeye consume the diminutive frogfruit.

Butterflies “taste” plant

While visiting the butterfly haven, guests are encouraged to observe the behavior of butterflies and caterpillars on or near host plants. When ready to lay eggs, female butterflies land and taste a plant with their feet – this is how they identify the correct host plant for their babies.

Caterpillars transition to butterflies

Observers will also note that caterpillars come in a range of sizes, called “instars.” A caterpillar will actually molt between instars, and once it has completed its final instar, it will crawl away from the host plant, anchor itself to something, develop a chrysalis, and metamorphose into a butterfly. The wings of the newly-emerged butterfly are crumpled and damp – the new butterfly will rest and slowly flex its wings until they expand and dry out.

Nectar plants

Visitors to the butterfly haven will see a variety of different butterfly nectar plants, some of which (such as milkweed, frogfruit, kumquat, and passionvine) will pull double duty as caterpillar host plants. Other nectar plants include lantana, blue mist flower, coneflower, aster, penta, zinnias, salvias, snapdragons, Angelonia, cestrum, esperanza and hibiscus.

Many of these flowers provide broad landing surfaces, which make them attractive to butterflies that prefer to perch while nectaring. Others have funnel shaped flowers, which appeal to strong flyers such as swallowtails.

Ideas to take home

Guests are encouraged to take note of all they see while visiting our butterfly haven. While most people don’t have large butterfly enclosures where they can closely observe the butterfly life cycle, they can still apply what they learn at Victoria Educational Gardens to their own gardens. By doing so, they will soon create their own free-flying, free-crawling butterfly and caterpillar haven.