Butterfly habitat planted in Yarmouth’s Rotary Park
New garden designed to help educate all, including students
Volunteers were hard at work on Aug. 23 digging holes, carefully tucking in plants and spreading mulch over new gardens at the Rotary Millennium Park.
Nicole Hubley, Monarch Butterfly Project co-ordinator with the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, joined members of the Yarmouth Rotary Club to help create the butterfly/bee habitat.
“Part of our work is to make butterfly habitat. That’s what we’re trying to do here today. Trying to restore areas to help bring bees and butterflies, especially monarchs, back,” she said.
A favourite food source for monarchs is milkweed and Hubley brought plants to donate to the project.
“For the little guys, if there’s no milkweed plants, there’s no babies. We need those to get those monarchs,” she said.
Milkweed is the only plant that monarchs will lay their eggs on and is the only food source for the caterpillars. Each butterfly can lay 500 eggs but will only lay one per leaf on the milkweed.
Once they get to the adult monarch stage they drink nectar from all kinds of pollinating flowers.
Hubley recommends having a minimum of two to three milkweed plants because one caterpillar can completely eat a full plant on its own.
Joe-Pye weed, echinacea, allium, autumn joy sedum, beauty bush, rudbeckia, lavender, several types of hydrangeas and spireas have been added and eventually signage will inform visitors.
Rotarian and project co-ordinator Kerry Muise says the addition of the butterfly/bee garden helps to expand the park’s features and makes it more of a natural, useful area.
The park is located across from Meadowfields Community School and students will be welcome to visit and learn about the import- ance of bees and butterflies, and attracting them back to the area.
“We want to have a musical playground also eventually – instruments mounted on a concrete pad with plasticised music books,” said Muise.
Rotary International matched the Yarmouth Rotary Club’s $2,400 investment in the new habitat and the Town of Yarmouth will be constructing a foot bridge over a gully that backs the garden. Ouestville Perennials provided 20 per cent off plants for the park, which also features a rhododendron garden, juniper corner and gazebo.
An apple tree with an accompanying brass plaque is being planted on the site in memory of five Rotarians who passed away in 2017. Individuals and businesses continue to contribute plants and elements to the park.