….Each fall, hundreds of millions of Monarch butterflies migrate from the United States and Canada to overwintering areas in Mexico and California….The Monarch migration is truly one of the world’s greatest natural wonders, yet it is threatened by habitat loss in North America…”Monarch Waystations, Monarch Watch, www.MonarchWatch.org
Parking
See map and directions to Zilker Botanical Garden at http://www.zilkergarden.org/about/location.html
Parking for the Monarch Event will be in the overflow parking lot located at 2236
Stratford Drive, directly across from the Rose Gate at the back entrance to the garden. Staff will be stopping traffic so visitors can cross safely.
Admission
Admission, cash or check, is:
$1 for children (ages 3-12)
$2 for adults, Austin resident (ages 13-61)
$3 for adults, non-resident (ages 13-61)
$1 for seniors (age 62 & over)
Head to Zilker Botanical Garden for a family-friendly, educational, and fun-filled event to celebrate Monarch Butterflies and other pollinators. Enjoy a Pollinator Plant Sale from 10 – 2, benefitting Monarch Watchand the Xerces Society.
Learn about Texas Native Bees, Monarch Waystations, and Butterfly Gardening by attending talks in the Garden Center auditorium, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Take the kids to the Oak Grove (near the Butterfly Garden) to meet and greet caterpillars and butterflies, see a display bee hive and build a Bee house, make Wildflower Seed Balls and Butterfly Wings, create a Butterfly Mural, and get their faces painted!
Check out the Silent Auction (in front of Garden Center entrance to the gift shop)
See Monarch tagging and release in the Doug Blachly Butterfly Trail & Garden.
Visit Information tables in the Oak Grove to learn about gardening for butterflies, bees, and wildlife.
PRESENTATIONS
Held in the Garden Center Auditorium11 a.m. – Texas Native Bees
Michael Warriner, Program Leader of Nongame and Rare Species Program, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, and PowWow Steering Committee
Michael Warriner is an invertebrate biologist, and the Program Leader of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Nongame and Rare Species Program. Prior to coming to Texas, he worked as the invertebrate zoologist for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and as a research associate working on forest entomology at Mississippi State University. He is also the coordinator of TPWD’s Texas Bumblebee Watch, and the author of www.nativebeecoop.com.
Native Bees of Texas: Native bees are critical to native plant reproduction and are key players in the maintenance of Texas’s natural ecosystems. A large number of native plants pollinated by these bees produce fruit, nuts, or seeds that thousands of animal species depend upon for food, including some popular game animals. Native bees also play economically important roles in agricultural production. The value of native bees to U.S. agriculture is estimated to be approximately $3 billion annually.
1 p.m. – Monarch Waystations: A Monarch’s Field of Dreams
Chuck Patterson and his wife, Patricia, have maintained #5574 Monarch Waystation since 2012, at their 2-acre home in Driftwood. These “citizen scientists” provide milkweed and nectar plants for the incredible migratory journey Monarchs take as they travel through Central Texas each spring and fall.
2 p.m. – Butterfly Gardening
Jeff Taylor has been an infectious disease epidemiologist with the Texas Department of State Health Services and the City of Austin for over 34 years. He has had a lifelong interest in birds, insects, biology, and gardening. He has been the secretary of the Austin Butterfly Forum for over ten years. He is a member of several nature or conservation groups including the Audubon Society and Xerces Society. He has gardened at Sunshine Community Garden for over 15 years and for five years has coordinated a “tomato trial garden” testing tomato varieties for the Austin area.
Doug Blachly Butterfly Trail & Garden—Monarch Tagging & Release
Every 2 hours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Matt Morris, PARD horticulture staff for the Butterfly Trail & Garden, will be tagging the Monarch butterflies at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.
