Cherokee Pollinator Garden’s annual Butterfly Festival will be Sunday October 3 from 2-4 p.m. The garden is at Cherokee Lake Park adjoining the Rose Garden. Park on the roadside or in the Rose Garden parking lot. It is on the opposite side of the Rose Garden from the parking lot.

This is the height of butterfly season and also when there are the most plants blooming.

Did you know many butterflies migrate, not just monarchs? Monarchs migrate along the Gulf Coast all the way to the mountains of Mexico, but many of our other butterflies migrate to the Gulf Coast and then as the weather gets colder, further south towards Texas and South Florida. 

With the most flowers in bloom and the migration from the north underway, that is why it is the height of our butterfly season.

When you have a butterfly garden, you want to have as many plants blooming spring, summer, and fall. These provide the nectar and pollen that the adult pollinators need. However, they also need larval host plants for reproduction. 

As Cherokee Pollinator Garden features almost all native plants, there are many host plants for the butterfly, moth, and other pollinator larvae to eat. There is a great deal of specialization in nature, and therefore many insects can only eat certain native plants that they have evolved with. 

This is one of the reasons why it is so important to plant natives and protect native trees. 

At the festival, there will be native plants and seeds to take home for a donation, displays, informational handouts, tours at 2:30 and 3:30, and children’s activities by Keep Thomas County Beautiful. You can dress up in a butterfly theme if you want to for a costume contest at 3:00 p.m.

Recently, two large groups from the Tallahassee Senior Center came for tours of the garden, learning how to support wildlife with native plants. Beth Grant had earlier presented a two-hour Zoom presentation to them on Butterfly Gardening with Native Plants.

Volunteers are welcome and appreciated on Saturdays, come and go anytime from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Wear closed toed shoes and bring gloves and water. 

Hands On Thomas County makes the butterfly garden possible with many volunteer referrals.  School groups come several times a year. 

Beth Grant, lead volunteer, says that the volunteers have been surprised that more people visit on Saturdays from Tallahassee and other areas than from Thomasville. They would like to encourage more regular visitors from our immediate area. If you come to the lake, playgrounds, or Rose Garden, you could also make a stop off at the butterfly garden! Volunteers hope to facilitate more home native gardens. The more there are in an area, the benefit multiplies. Volunteering in the garden is the perfect way to learn more about these much needed efforts to reduce the decline in wildlife populations, and plants are always available for no charge to volunteers.

Tours and classes are available to groups like school classes and clubs, churches, scouts, garden clubs, etc.

Contact bethgrant@bellsouth.net or 227-9844 to schedule such activities.

For more information go to the website cherokeepollinatorgarden.weebly.com or the Facebook page facebook.com/CherokeeLakePollinatorGarden