Meigs Point Butterfly Garden and Friendship Pond: A place to visit and to volunteer.

Artists know it, kids know it, do you know it?  Tucked behind the Meigs Point Nature Center is a special oasis for butterflies... and other insects, birds, and snakes, etc.  

The slope behind the old pines is planted with Buddleia bushes of several colers and varieties.    They help attract the adult butterflies to the area.  The upper section has many plants for the adult butterflies to lay eggs on and then of course for the caterpillars to eat when they emerge.   Favorites are the parsely plants and the stray Queen Anne's lace that is allowed to stay on a limited basis.   Otherwise, it would just take over!   There's also some asparagus that showed up on its own.  You'll have to  visit the garden to see the variety.   Take a look at the pamphlet printed by Friends of Hammonasset for all the information  Butterfly Garden.pdf.   

At the top of the slope is a fenced in area that contains Friendship Pond.   The pond provides fresh water needed by the butterflies, but in the pond you can hope to see frogs.   Many varieties of birds also like to swoop over the water to feed on insects on and over the water.   I learned recently that this kind of manuever is called feeding on the wing.   Many birds also like to bathe in the pond.   It's an entertaining sight to watch a bird going through their preening routine in the pond.   The plants inside the fence are often joined by weeds - thistle, Queen Anne's Lace, Ragweed, Bindweed.   "I like those plants" you may say.   True, but they overtake what is planned for inside the pond fence.   A  gardener's saying goes  "a weed is only a plant growing where you don't want it."  

People enjoy the garden as much as the insects and animals.   Have you ever come across a Plein Aire painting class by the garden?   Maybe you've seen school groups or Nature Center classes with nets and bug houses.   A local chapter of the Butterfly Association has also used the Garden as a base for tagging Monarchs and conducting an official Butterfly Count.  For such a small area, there is so much going on!  And when fall comes, the hues change but are still just as beautiful as during the peak flowering months.

A little garden history:  The garden was planted more than 10 years ago as a joint project of the Madison Garden Club and Friends of Hammonasset.    As of last year, Friends of Hammonasset assumed full responsibilty to tend and care for the garden.   That's actually how I came to join FoH.   I graduated from the UConn Master Gardener Program in 2009 and to maintain that certification and work towards Advanced certification, I needed a project to work on.   In the Winter newsletter, I spotted a call for someone to be a Chair the Butterfly Garden on the FoH Board.  The fit was perfect - I signed up!   Last summer the garden was tended as a group effort and the same this is planned this year.    I'll be there every Friday at 9:00 to weed and clip and do whatever else may need to be done that week.    Stop by any Friday if you'd like to help, too.   First tasks: get the bindweed out and finish mulching.

See you at the Garden!