Lillian’s Butterfly
Garden & Monarch Waystation
Arowhon Pines
There is an incredible
story that was made into a BBC documentary called “Four Wings and a Prayer“.
The story documents the fascinating migration journey of the monarch
butterfly from Canada to Mexico
and back again – truly one of the world’s greatest natural wonders. Unfortunately, the migration is threatened by
habitat loss in North America, hence the need for way stations and tagging
programs, places that provide the resources necessary for monarchs to produce
successive generations and sustain their migration.
So inspired, we decided
to register Arowhon Pines as a Monarch Butterfly Way Station. We were lucky to already have on our grounds milkweed
and nectar sources for monarch caterpillars, larvae and adults. Besides milkweed, other native perennials
include bee balm, black-eyed Susans, goldenrod, Joe-Pye weed, asters, phlox,
coneflowers, sedum, violets and more. We’ve
also added attractive annual plants that provide them with energy for their
long journey - cosmos, floss flowers, marigolds, lantana, sunflowers, pentas,
salvia, sweet William, verbena and zinnia.
Arowhon has always
followed common sense sustainable garden practices such as thinning, removing
dead stalks by hand, using natural compost for fertilization, watering, and of
course, we’ve never used pesticides or herbicides! You will find natural areas around the
grounds, free from mowing.
Rest assured that as we research
more and more, our gardens will become bigger, bolder and more beautiful! Please
visit all the grounds, but especially the sunny area in the meadow above the
tennis courts.
The most exciting part
of all is that in the months of August and September we can start netting and tagging
the migrating monarchs on our grounds.
Simply put, when our butterfly reaches Mexico, the data on the tag will be
input and we will be sent an email message telling us that they’ve arrived!
We are committed to conserving
and protecting milkweed/monarch habitats.
We hope that you and your family will participate as this project grows.
We would like to thank
Donna Cooke for inspiring us to get involved and all her hard work in putting
the gardens together.
