Butterfly Garden

Currently, the Butterfly House gets butterflies from Asia, Africa, North America, and Central America.  We receive 400-500 chrysalids (butterfly pupae) every week from butterfly farms and brokers.  At these farms, the butterflies are carefully breeded and their eggs raised into hungry caterpillars.  The picky caterpillars are fed their appropriate host plants (Monarchs eat only milkweeds, Blue Morphos eat plants in the pea family, etc.) until they are ready to become a chrysalis.  The farm workers then set aside some of the chrysalids to become the next generation of breeders, while the rest are carefully packed in cotton or styrofoam trays and shipped express to butterfly houses around the world.  Depending on the time of year, farms can be raising anywhere from a handful to tens of species at a time.  At any given time, the Butterfly House has between 60 and 80 species flying around in the garden.

When our shipments arrive, they are taken into our containment room and all the chrysalids are carefully inspected by our curator.  They are then hung on foam-covered rods to continue developing and are placed in our emergence window, where customers might be able to see a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis if they are lucky enough to come at just the right moment.  When a butterfly emerges, its body is swollen with fluid and its wings are tiny and folded up.  The struggle of coming out of the chrysalis starts the flow of fluid from the body into the veins of the wings, filling them in much the same way a raft is inflated.  For at least a half hour after the wings have filled, they are still wet and floppy, and the butterfly continues to hang upside down on its empty chrysalis until its wings are dry.  The butterflies in our window emerge every day, and every day they are carefully transported from the emergence window to the garden once they are ready to fly.

In our garden, the butterflies act just as they would in the wild.  They fly from flower to flower drinking nectar, collect on our plates of overripe banana slices to drink the juices, stretch out on a leaf to bask in the sun, defend their territories from other butterflies, and mate.  Although butterflies do mate in our garden, the females will not lay their eggs unless they find the host plant their species needs as a cateripllar (ex: Monarchs won't lay their eggs if there is no milkweed to be found).  We are very careful to not plant any host plants in our garden, so our female butterflies never lay their eggs.  Raising caterpillars in the garden is prohibited by the USDA since almost all of our butterflies are foreign, and they must be carefully controlled and contained so that they don't pose a threat to the outside environment.

When you first enter the Butterfly House, you will be given a FREE chart with the butterflies we receive the most often so you can identify them in the garden.  Listed below are the species currently on our chart, along with a sampling of some of the other species you might see.

Currently On Our Chart

North America
Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio trolius)
Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)

North and South America
Queen (Danaus glippus)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)

Southern US and Central America
White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae)
Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charithonia)
Julia Heliconian (Dryas julia)

Central and South America
Doris Longwing (Heliconius doris)
Golden Helicon (Heliconius hecale)
Cattleheart (Parides iphidamas)
Owlet (Opsiphanes cassina)
Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides)
Giant Owl (Caligo memnon)
Grecian Shoemaker (Cantonephele numilia)
Red Postman (Heliconius melpomene)
Zebra Mosaic (Colobura dirce)
Blue Wave (Myscelia cyaniris)
Sara Longwing (Heliconius sara)
Cydno Longwing (Heliconius cydno)
Bamboo Page (Philaethria dido)

Africa
Blue-Banded Swallowtail (Papilio nireus)

Asia
Rice Paper (Idea leuconoe)
Grey Pansy (Junonia (Precis) atlites)
Chocolate Pansy (Junonia (Precis) iphita)
Indian Dead Leaf (Kallima paralekta)
Greater Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina) - Made the news recently!
Archduke (Lexias dirtea)
Clipper (Parthenos sylvia)
Common Sergeant (Athyma perius)
Dark Blue Tiger (Tirumala septentrionis)
Cruiser (Vindula dejone)
Greater Mormon (Papilio memnon)
Common Rose (Pachilopta aristolochiae)
Orange Emigrant (Catopsilia scylla)
Common Birdwing (Troides helena)

Worldwide
Painted Lady (Venessa cardui)

Other Butterflies Frequently In Our Garden

Under construction - Check back soon!