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Butterfly release boosts pollinator population

Kile Brewer
Posted 5/11/17

FLEMING ISLAND – Fleming Island is home to 100 more butterflies than usual following an event held by the Garden Club.

Housed in individually-wrapped triangle-shaped folds of paper that were …

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Butterfly release boosts pollinator population


Posted

FLEMING ISLAND – Fleming Island is home to 100 more butterflies than usual following an event held by the Garden Club.

Housed in individually-wrapped triangle-shaped folds of paper that were stored in a cooler, the butterflies were removed from refrigeration and allowed to thaw before the May 6 ceremony at the Fleming Island Library. Children stood by waiting anxiously as Garden Club members passed out the butterflies for release into the library’s garden for the club’s fifth annual butterfly release.

“This event brings awareness to butterflies and butterfly plants,” said Martha Klair, outgoing president of the Garden Club of Fleming Island. “It gives the community a chance to see and participate in something they normally wouldn’t get to do.”

Each year, the garden club purchases a group of butterflies from Cloverlawn Butterflies, an Orlando-based butterfly farm that specializes in providing frozen adult butterflies for releases like this one, and also for events like weddings and funerals. The freezing doesn’t hurt the butterflies in any way and once they thaw out, they pick up right where they left off.

As each triangular envelope is opened, the preheated butterflies slowly make their way to their feet, then struggle through the first few steps. With the sun beating down on their backs and wings, they soon reanimate and leap off the paper, flying away to nearby plants.

The event is aimed at children ages 10 and younger, but parents also participated. Preston Rios-Davis, 8, stopped by for the second year in a row in his soccer uniform to release a butterfly before heading off to a game that morning.

“My favorite part is releasing the butterflies,” Rios-Davis said. “I hope to do this every single year!”

Preston’s three-year-old brother Isaiah also released a butterfly with a little help from the pair’s mother, Josephine Rios-Davis.

“I want to thank the garden club for a great event,” Josephine said, “And I want to thank the library and community for supporting great children’s events.”

In the last five years, the garden club has grown this event into a can’t-miss activity for kids in Clay County, growing in attendance each year, according to Klair.

In addition to the release itself, which gave each child attending a chance to release a butterfly of their own, there were a variety of crafts and games, and an educational exhibit on the monarch butterfly and its importance in North America.

The garden club maintains the gardens throughout the library’s circular drive with butterfly attracting plants, hoping to help the monarchs as they make their way through Florida. In addition to the library gardens, the club also just finished a monarch waystation, which serves as a roadside rest area for the monarchs during their continuous international migration.

“The populations are down in Mexico,” said Sally McGraw, a local master gardener and garden club member. “We encourage people to plant native milkweed, you shouldn’t use other types of milkweed.”

McGraw explained that native milkweed, a plant where monarchs spend the majority of their early life, doesn’t last as long as other varieties of milkweed, which halt the monarch’s natural migration path. This, along with the favorable year-round temperatures, have caused a problem with monarchs “overwintering” in southern Florida.

“It’s hard to grow vegetables here because of the lack of pollinators,” said Annette Stafford, president of the Garden Club of Fleming Island. “The butterfly and bee populations are being destroyed and they are what keeps our environment going.”

As a result of the decline in pollination, Stafford said her husband has had to pollinate their tomato plants using a Q-tip.

“These are insects that help with fertilization and pollination, they’re part of our ecosystem,” Stafford said. “We try to help these children develop an interest in ecology and the environment.”