
A flash of orange …
All that mild afternoon, my butterfly garden was a resting place for monarchs making a late migration to Mexico. Monarchs migrate as birds do, but it takes the monarch four generations, sometimes five, to complete the cycle each year: No single butterfly lives to make the full round-trip from Mexico to their northern breeding grounds and back. Entomologists don’t yet understand what makes successive generations follow the same route their ancestors took, and I can only hope that the descendants of these monarchs will find respite in my garden, too. Every year will always find me planting zinnias, just in case.
― Margaret Renkl, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss
… a symbol of perseverance against the odds.
As poet Derek Wolcott says, ” So much to do still, all of it praise.” Join us for events and exhibitions in September in celebration of the monarch’s migration and its glorious, against-all-odds quest for survival. Naturalist Dan Lazar presents a free class for Adult Ed during the annual plant sale on September 29 and 30, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., in the Education Center classroom. Stay to see a monarch release from the lawn and learn what you can grow in place to help the monarch on its journey.