As we gathered Sept. 14, on this almost fall day at the home of Sylvia Murphey, it felt as though we were being released into a season of joy. Greeted with smiles and hugs by friends into the cozy art- filled home was just the beginning of our eventful day.
President Sherry Clark and Cindy Ellis presented Jenifer Flautt with the framed national award for Small Standard Flower Show, and the other awards from our last fall flower show were proudly displayed on a table.
Cindy Ellis started us off with a quick backyard study on hummingbirds. This is their migration season and swarms are currently feeding for their flights south, which can be up to 500 miles at a time. These beauties have no sense of smell but have a keen awareness of color, preferring yellow and reds. Their nests are smaller than a silver dollar and average two eggs, laying one egg a day apart. There are over 330 species of hummingbirds, and a great place to enjoy them is at the festival in Holly Springs.
All business handled, we could breathe in the calmness of the room through floor to ceiling French doors welcoming light to our guest speaker, Linda Hiter, and her table of show and tell projects showcasing monarch butterflies. The room of garden club ladies transformed into a room of spellbound grade schoolers being taught by one of those teachers you know really loves her subject and loves sharing with others.
In one plastic container, Linda had milkweed leaves with monarch butterfly eggs, teeny eggs smaller than a mustard seed or pinhead. Another plastic container held several white just beginning larva-staged caterpillars on more leaves. A third container held several small caterpillars, yellow with green stripes, in the hungry stage. The last container had mature caterpillars just waiting to become chrysalis. That’s where they go to change from a caterpillar into a butterfly.
Linda explained that a caterpillar sheds its outgrown skin an average of five times, eating it for food. Parsley, fennel and dill will gain you favorite menu yard status so plant in abundance please. Linda and her husband live in Marigold and have devoted eight acres to a Monarch Weigh Station. The land is planted with a variety of nectar plants enjoyed by both hummingbirds and butterflies and is recognized on a national level. Chemical free, it is only mowed once the migration is over to encourage the species to continue with their flight.
Monarchs have been tagged with tiny round stickers to trace their migration route and it is found they winter over in central Mexico, preferring the Oyamel fir tree forest.
A bit of research shows the winter habitat for monarchs are in danger from several fronts. Deforestation, climate change, mudslides are but a few areas that have scientists searching for alternate answers and suitable climates.
On our local end, we can give them a protective healthy start by recognizing the eggs, larva, caterpillar and chrysalis stages. Don’t destroy a big fat worm thinking it’s eating up a prized plant; plan ahead and plant some fennel, dill, milkweed and parsley.
After our audio-visual tour, Linda checked the mature caterpillar box and we discovered that one had already formed into a chrysalis stage and another was hanging ready to form the J stage. Life changing in that short of a time, awe-inspiring.
We gathered in the dining room, glistening with light again from floor to ceiling French doors, a table set with silver everything, fancy cloth napkins, fine crystal and a centerpiece of coral roses, kangaroo paws, fun festive green trick and other delights arranged by Sherry Clark. We were treated to carmel cake as we transformed back into grownup garden club ladies.
With the last saucer taken to the kitchen, all eyes were on Linda holding two monarchs in baskets. French doors swung open and two guests were given the honor of releasing these beauties heading to Mexico, where they will have the opportunity for a full lifespan and become great grandparents.
We all left with a packet of milkweed seeds promising to plant, and all but skipped to our cars.
Good resources:
• “Life Cycles of Butterflies,” by Judy Buris and Wayne Richard, details specific plants for specific butterflies.
• Butterflies of the Mississippi Delta may be found at www.lowerdelta.org.
