Chasing Butterflies

These days it’s a challenge to find safe and interesting destinations for short excursions.  It’s critical the location be uncrowded and enforces social/physical distancing.  And, of course, it needs to be open and accessible.  This week I found the perfect destination for a “safe” excursion at Butterflies and Blooms in the Briar Patch in Eatonton, Georgia.  This charming pollinator habitat is, just as the name promises, overflowing with native butterflies and flowering plants.  I was the only visitor on a quiet weekday morning.
While it is new to me, Butterflies and Blooms is a well-established community treasure.  The area is planted with specially selected native plants to support and encourage native butterfly reproduction.  A little online research reveals this site was established in 2017 by a group of enthusiastic volunteers.
Butterflies and Blooms is part of the Briar Patch Trail Park which is a small park with a ¼ mile walking trail, a picnic area, an outdoor classroom, a working honey beehive, an observation platform and a small pond.  The park is casual and inviting with lots of natural elements, twig structures and quirky garden art.  This rustic arch frames the main entrance and welcomes visitors to the habitat.

There’s a small cabin with old-timey rockers on the front porch.

Comfortable benches and seats are conveniently located throughout the park.  I noticed a few single chairs tucked in here and there.  I don’t know if it was intentional but this chair provided a front row seat for watching the butterflies around this patch of flowers.

It was such a pleasure watching the butterflies flit around the brightly colored blooms.  I managed to get a shot of the gorgeous Eastern Tiger Swallowtail  (Papilio glaucus) on a orange coreopsis flower.

I spotted a flashy Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charithonia) on a lantana bloom.
The park was overflowing with summer flowers.  Here’s another magnificent Eastern Tiger Swallowtail perched on a vibrant zinnia.
Speaking of zinnias, I shared my love for these flowers in a previous post called Zinnias Rock! And More Cutting Garden Tips.  I planted zinnias in my cutting garden again this year and they did not disappoint.  In fact, we’ve noticed a huge increase in the number of butterflies and other pollinators visiting our garden.  I suspect it’s because I’ve been leaving more blooms on the plants and cutting less to take indoors.  Also, the butterflies seem particularly attracted to one of the types of zinnias I planted this year.  It is a collection from Renee’s Garden called Cool Crayon Colors Cutting Zinnias.  This stunning American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) has been a regular visitor.

This gossamery Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) is enjoying the nectar from a vibrant zinnia.
Here’s another species—it’s the striking Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanilla) with its orange-patterned wings.
Here’s another shot of the Gulf Fritillary.  It’s moved on to the ever popular purple coneflower.

Amazingly, it doesn’t take much effort to attract butterflies to the garden.  Here are some tips for attracting butterflies:
. Ensure plenty of sunlight
. Provide moist or damp areas for puddling
. Choose different plants to attract a wider variety of species
. Try to provide flowers right through the butterfly season
. DO NOT use insecticides or pesticides
. Select both nectar plants and larval host plants (aka caterpillar food plants).
Butterflies need two types of plants to survive.  Nectar plants provide nourishment while host plants provide a place to lay eggs and host larvae.  For instance, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail can feed on nectar from a variety of plants including zinnia (as evidenced in the photo below) but they rely on a different set of native plants such as Wild Cherry, Sweetbay and Tulip Trees to host their eggs/larvae.

More Info

Aug 13, 2021 Update:  Check out the post, A Flutter of Butterflies in the Closet, for a new way to incorporate your favorite butterfly photos into your home décor.
You may enjoy my previous post, Zinnias Rock! And More Cutting Garden Tips.
You can learn more about Butterflies and Blooms in the Briar Patch in Eatonton, Georgia, USA on their Facebook page or Instagram account.  The 2019 article, In the Garden: Butterflies & Blooms, in the Lake Oconee Living Magazine provided additional background and perspective on this butterfly habitat.
Aug 5, 2020 Update: Many thanks to Virigina Linch for this additional information about Butterflies and Blooms:  “We originally began this pollinator project in 2013 on a city property that was sold.  We were asked to move to this location as the walking trail was installed but not many people were using it as it was barren of anything of interest.  The trail is 1/4 mile and we are planting inside and outside the loop. We moved to our current location in 2017.  It is maintained by volunteers, is a master gardener approved site, listed on the Rosalyn Carter Butterfly Trail, certified Monarch Way Station 9045 (we tag migrating monarchs each fall), certified by the Xerces Society, the North American Butterfly Association, among other designations. We have the larval host plants for 40 species of butterflies and skippers established in the habitat. Our motto is “Plant the larval host plants and the wings WILL come.” as well as “Help spread the wings”.”
Check out Renee’s Garden website to learn more about the Cool Crayon Colors Cutting Zinnias seeds I mentioned above.
To learn how you can help to bring back pollinators, check out the Xerces organization.   I also referenced Xerces resources for my previous posts Insect Hotels for Bees and Other Pollinators and AirBee-n-Bee House DIY Tutorial.
The North American Butterfly Association website is packed with information about butterflies.  The Butterfly Gardens section includes advice on starting a butterfly garden, habitat management and a butterfly garden certification program.
I continue to be impressed by iNaturalist.  Their web-based observation and identification tools, along with their mobile app, are excellent for identifying wildlife including butterflies.  Check out my previous post Seek to Identify Wildlife with this Fun App.  To learn more, access the iNaturalist website or find the “Seek by iNaturalist” app on Google Play or the App Store.

Today’s Takeaways

1.  Small, lesser-known, local sites can be ideal for safe and interesting excursions.
2. Look closely to fully appreciate the extensive variety of butterflies.
3. Consider attracting butterflies to your garden by growing the plants they need.