Butterfly Garden Installed At Newtown Senior Center

A garden full of butterfly-friendly plants was enthusiastically accepted and welcomed by the Senior Center and its director Marilyn Place. The Garden Club of Newtown researched proposed sites and implemented installation. The butterfly garden is located in the triangle in front of the Senior Center building to the left of the front doors. The garden club also planted the large flower boxes in front and around the side of the building, as well as the small cement urn by the doors.

A butterfly garden attracts, protects, and nourishes butterflies in all stages of their life. Some plants feed the caterpillars and other plants provide nectar and nourishment to adult butterflies. A butterfly house which was donated by the Jungle Garden Center in Bethel will even provide the butterflies with a place to winter.

An important part of the garden is a birdbath that if empty can double as a “butterfly bar.” This is where mature male butterflies gather to attract females. Ripe or over-ripened fruit such as bananas should be left at the “bar” to attract the butterflies. In front of the garden is a clay saucer full of sand that should be kept wet. This is known as a “puddling place.” Butterflies prefer this to the deep water of a birdbath.

The perennials and annuals planted in the butterfly garden at the Senior Center include aster, bleeding heart, butterfly blue (perennial of the year this year), butterfly weed, candytuft, chrysanthemum, purple cone flower, stone crop sedurn, shasta daisy, viburnum, violets, yarrow, zinnias, and a few daffodils for early spring color. Most of the plants came from the gardens of the garden club members. The primary planners as to what plants were desirable were Debbie Osborne and Melinda Rhodes. Plant contributors were Barbara Bonnacci, Beryl Harrison, Debby Osborne, Nancy Rowe, Mona Steele, and Sue Toll. All other plants were provided to the project at a discount by the Jungle Garden Center.

Installation on the afternoon of Thursday, May 11, occurred in just two hours thanks to eight members of the Garden Club of Newtown and two volunteers. Existing plants had to be dug out, thinned, and transplanted to the flower boxes. The soil at the site and in the urn and flower boxes had to be enriched with topsoil, peat moss, and manure. The plants were planted, cedar mulch spread, and everything was watered thoroughly. The garden club workers were Barbara Bonnacci, Carol Garbarino, Eileen Holleran, Debby Osborne, Helen Rodia, Mona Steele, Sue Toll, and Cheryl Wicks. Also working at the Senior Center was Rich Plavnicky of the St Rose Youth Group, who participated as a community service project. Victor Roy likes gardening so much he stepped in to help when his son, also a member of the youth group, couldn’t make it.

In addition to all those already mentioned, Ammini Ramachandran assisted in planning and Paula Stephan assisted in acquisition of hardscape and the arrangement of volunteer help for the project, and Cheryl Wicks, Conservation Chairman for the club, organized and managed the project.

The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut have requested that this project be submitted for consideration for a community service award.