I just returned from a far and distant land where thousands upon thousands of butterflies filled the many native plant wildlife gardens that I visited during my 10-day stay, which included the 18th Annual Texas Butterfly Festival.
Many of the butterflies were exotic (to me) southern species that just make it into the United States.
Since my first visit in 1979 to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, I’ve made 7 additional trips. That first visit in 1979 was kind of scary. It was in spring and Clay and I witnessed major fallouts of Broad-winged Hawks and other migrant birds at places like Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. Exiting the refuge and looking north we cringed. Farm fields stretched as far as we could see without a tree or hedgerow in sight. How could these migrants survive once they left refuges like Santa Ana NWR?
Thirty-four years later I am hopeful and hugely impressed with favorable changes to the landscape in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, changes that include natural corridors of native plants running between many of the protected parcels. The official Birding & Butterfly Map of the Rio Grande Valley (available for free at nature centers throughout the Valley) directs visitors and residents to 86 sites, many of which have extensive butterfly gardens planted with native nectar and host plants benefiting all pollinators and attracting insect-eating birds galore.
The area is a bonanza for those of us in the north, whose gardens have been quiet for a good month.
Read my latest post, “South Texas Butterfly Gardens in Late Fall,” on Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens to learn more about:
- My recent trip
- The “Landscaping for Butterflies” tour of private gardens I led as part of the Texas Butterfly Festival
- All the resources available to Lower Rio Grande Valley residents guiding them to plant NATIVE
- And to see photos of some pretty jazzy butterflies
This is the 22nd year I’ve been leading these tours of private backyard wildlife gardens. And they just keep getting yummier and yummier!
Ken Soltesz entered Cape May County’s natural history scene in 1989 and turned it upside down with his keen interest in dragons and damsels. He grew a small army of odonate enthusiasts.
This is the 21st year I’ve been leading these tours of private backyard wildlife gardens. And they just keep getting yummier and yummier!
More butterfly and hummingbird gardens are tucked into Cape May County than probably anywhere else in the country. Mid-July is the time of peak butterfly diversity and numbers. Gardens look completely different from one month to the next (so seriously consider all 9 tours). Learn the magic combination of native nectar plants and caterpillar plants that makes a garden especially attractive to butterflies. Design ideas and new wildlife plants will be showcased while tour participants are entertained by a blizzard of butterflies and hummingbirds.
At the peak of Cape May County’s world-famous fall Monarch migration, tour diverse gardens that have hosted Monarchs since May. Each features native nectar plants and as many as five different kinds of milkweed (used by Monarchs for egg laying to create the next generation). Expect clouds of Monarchs and other butterflies, Monarch eggs, caterpillars, and maybe even a chrysalis. The complex Monarch migration will be both explained and enjoyed.
Hi Gang,
I’m always surprised when the “tidy factor” wins and a gardener feels compelled to whack back spent flowers and seed heads and send them off to the compost pile. I bite my tongue, but am deeply puzzled.