Our May meeting will be via Zoom on May 22, 2023 from 7:00 – 8:30 PM CDT. Rita Venable will give a presentation on
A Home for Butterflies
What kind of real estate do butterflies look for when choosing a home? Do they like what they see, smell and taste at your garden or do they turn up their antennae and look elsewhere?
This presentation will focus on what butterflies need and how to plan your garden space. It will include a list of top nectaring plants for Tennessee butterflies. Also, we will discuss hostplants—including trees—for butterflies. We’ll go over practical considerations about the garden along with three real-life examples of butterfly/pollinator gardens—a professionally designed public area, a parking lot island and a backyard home pollinator garden. There will be a question period at the end and some resources for further study will be given.
Biography
Rita Venable is the author of the field guide Butterflies of Tennessee.
Rita is on the working group for planning the outdoor classroom at New Hope Academy grades pre-K–6th grade in Franklin. She is also a pollinator consultant at the Giving Garden—a food farm in Franklin and a consultant with the University of Memphis for a Middle Tennessee pollinator strip for TDOT. She maintains a native landscape around her home to attract pollinators.
Rita lives in Franklin, Tennessee with her husband, Phil, and their dog, Argo.
Zoom Link
https://wildones-org.zoom.us/j/83877469140?pwd=a05jMWxBNjZ0VFBkYXVCcHBybzg3QT09
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Downy Phlox (credit: Rita Venable)