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[marilyn.monroe]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/28/2872099/a-home-for-the-butterflies-woman.html


DETROIT -- Brenda Dziedzic flutters along the path inside Brenda's Butterfly Habitat in Westland, Mich., and she spots a giant swallowtail that is weak and dying.

 She holds the butterfly up to a flower, begging for it to eat.

 "Don't die on me," she says.

Dziedzic wears a yellow shirt decorated with butterflies, and she drives a car with a butterfly sunscreen, and she sports a tattoo on her right leg - two monarchs on swamp milkweed.

 She is carefree and lighthearted. She feels a connection to butterflies. She understands them. And sometimes, yes, she feels like a butterfly, too, like a creature that has undergone a transformation.

 Dziedzic has traveled around the world looking for butterflies, going from Mexico to the Amazon rainforest. She wrote a self-published book, "Butterflies in the Garden," and in 2007, she helped form the Southeast Michigan Butterfly Association, a group of butterfly enthusiasts that has more than 100 members.

Smith said that Dziedzic's butterfly habitat is unusual because Dziedzic is raising her own butterflies, and all of them can be found in Michigan.

 By comparison, the butterfly house at the Detroit Zoo is filled with butterflies that are native to Costa Rica and El Salvador. At any given time, the Detroit Zoo averages 30-40 butterfly species.


"Most exhibits tend to focus on exotics. Her place is very unique that it's free and you can buy plants at a nursery that have not been treated with chemicals that would harm butterflies. That's very unusual."

BRENDA'S BUTTERFLY HABITAT

 The public is invited to visit Brenda's butterfly exhibit at Barson's Greenhouse, 6414 Merriman, in Westland, Mich. Admission is free; donations are accepted. The exhibit is open 1-6 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 1-5 p.m. Sunday . It is closed Monday and Wednesday. For more: www.ButterfliesInTheGarden.com

[marilyn.monroe]

The Erie Hiker has a blog post on dragonflys, which go nicely with butterflys.
I enjoy watching both winged-wonders. I keep wild flower meadows for the butterflys. Milkweed grows like the dickens and Monarchs love it. The pond and lakes around keep us well-supplied with dragonflys and they eat mosquitos!

http://www.blogsmonroe.com/expatriate/ (also a new post on Governor Snyder's visit to Monroe)

[Professor H]

I've been planting butterfly friendly for years...   my creek (or is it crick) also has many dragonflies.  I enjoy sitting on the bridge watching all the wildlife - while the red wing blackbirds serenade.

[BigRedDog]

We have a "huge" front yard...   500 or so feet wide...   we also have a "friend" who has a young daughter that is very interested in butterflies.  We let part of our yard on either side of the house "go wild" (I prefer to say we have a savanna)

What we do is mow and trim around a few areas that have high concentrations of milkweed which are vital for the local monarch butterflies.  We harvest the pods and the seeds and share them with others, including some of the shelters that specialize in butterflies.  Hopefully in the next few years we'll be able to actually "cultivate" a field of milkweed.  I'm sure the neighbors would appreciate that.  They do seem quite happy though once we harvest the pods and I put the brush hog on the tractor and mow the rest all down 

There is also a butterfly house in Whitehouse, Ohio...  I posted something here last year on them...   not a long drive especially for the south county residents.  I know they have monarchs but not sure what others they may have.  We haven't been there but it's on my list of places to go "soon"

http://butterfly-house.com/

Even if you're just a fan of the pretty flowers, something to note right now are the "orange butterfly plants"...  they're growing wild along some of the rural roads...  they seem to be doing better since the townships aren't spending as much money to trim the road sides



Here's a pretty good website for flowers you can plant in your garden to attract and help the butterflies:

http://www.gardening-for-wildlife.com/butterfly-plants.html

[BigRedDog]

I've been planting butterfly friendly for years...  my creek (or is it crick) also has many dragonflies.  I enjoy sitting on the bridge watching all the wildlife - while the red wing blackbirds serenade.

I've heard it both ways all my years...   depended on which side of the family I was hearing it from...  I usually say creek but do occasionally get a crick in my neck

[BigRedDog]

We'll be harvesting the milkweed soon

[marilyn.monroe]