Those of you who know me know my horticulture background is in nursery and landscape. The first thing I did when I started working for the arboretum was mow off the butterfly meadow. At that time I just considered this area a disorganized mass of weeds that flowered and didn’t require much care. I am happy to report that I have progressed past this opinion.

My job here means that I need to take care of the whole 40 acres not just the areas that I have a good understanding of. Because my knowledge of pollinator plants is limited, I asked Ryan and Tracy to take a walk with me into the butterfly meadow and tell me if it seemed like it was healthy. Ryan is the Monarch Zone Coordinator for the arboretum and has extensive experience with pollinator plants and prairie plantings. We all walked through the meadow while Ryan filled me in on some of the plants that were there. The main 4-acre planting got a very good rating from Ryan. The other areas may need a little management to get them to look like the main butterfly meadow. This can be worked on as money and time allow, but at least I now know what I need to do to manage these areas for the best results.

As I stated at the beginning of this article I used to think of these areas as flowery weed patches. Now I believe that these areas are very much underappreciated. There is no one area of the arboretum that changes so much on a biweekly basis as the butterfly planting. I have seen several smaller plantings in yards in Cedar Falls but they are generally too small to have the variety of the 4-acre planting at the arboretum. With my newfound respect for these areas, I am now learning more about how to best manage this area.

If you are a first-time visitor to the arboretum this area is a must-see. If you are a regular visitor to the arboretum, do yourself a favor and take a stroll through the butterfly meadow each time you visit. It not only looks great most of the growing season but also serves as a home and habitat for our very important pollinator friends.

Thanks for your support for the important work that we do.

Please feel free to send comments on this and other topics to:

roger@cedarvalleyarboretum.org

The Horticulture Staff

Cedar Valley Arboretum & Botanic Gardens