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Butterfly Bulletin, Issue #002 -- Butterfly garden photos, butterfly gifts and monarch migration.
December 02, 2009
Hi,

It’s December and the cold winds are blowing up here in the Northern part of the U.S.. It’s fun to think back on the joy that butterflies brought to our summer gardens. I know that some of you are in warmer climates and still enjoying the “flying flowers”. Share some photos of butterflies in your garden with us to keep “hope” alive!

My goal is to keep you up-to-date on what is new at Glorious Butterfly and in the “world of butterflies”! Look for a new issue the first week of each month….

ENJOY!

Karen


In This Issue:

Click on item to jump down to that section:

What's New? - Butterfly garden photos and pictures of butterflies

Butterfly News - Migration update

Everything Butterflies - Butterfly feeders and cages

Teacher’s Corner - Milkweed seeds and science bulletin boards

In the Butterfly Garden - Plan next year's garden, photos of your butterfly gardens, joe-pye-weed


What’s New

Now, you can share pictures of your butterfly gardens. We would all love to be inspired by your gardens for butterflies. Please share what butterflies you have attracted, your favorite plants and any special tips you’ve discovered.

I received some beautiful photos from one of my readers of the emergence of a Giant Swallowtail butterfly. Check out all of the beautiful photos of butterflies that my visitors have submitted.


Butterflies in the News

November 6, 2009 This news just in: The monarchs arrived in large numbers yesterday at Mexico's winter sanctuary region.

The news was announced by biologist Eduardo Rendon, who heads World Wildlife Fund-Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Program.

"Today, all of the roads that lead to the Monarch Reserve are full of butterflies," he reported yesterday. Evidently the monarchs began to arrive on Sunday and Monday, when the first trees containing clusters were found in the Sierra Chincua and El Rosario sanctuaries. Yesterday was the first day with such a clear, massive arrival.

If you are planning a trip to California, consider checking out the areas along the coast where the “wesern” Monarch butterflies migrate. Check out this article about the roosting areas near San Francisco.

The largest populations of monarchs along the coast can be found at the Pacific Grove Sancutary. Check out my page on the western monarch migration.


Everything Butterflies

It’s not too late to order some Christmas presents online for your favorite “butterfly-lover” or maybe a treat for yourself!

Check out these new pages for butterfly gifts and items....

Butterfly feeders can add beauty to your garden....along with butterflies!

If you are thinking about raising butterflies inside and would like some kind of cage so you don’t have “wandering” caterpillars, check out these butterfly pavilions or cages.


Teacher’s Butterfly Corner

Time to think about tropical milkweed seeds and preparing for a "plant project" after the students return from the Christmas holidays.

This would be a fun easy science project and prepare the class for the all time favorite science project in spring…raising monarch butterflies!

I was wondering if any of you would be interested in sharing photos of science bulletin boards you have used in your classrooms (or other teachers in your school have created). I have had such an interest in my bulletin board pages and I thought it would be fun to share ideas. If there is an interest, I will create a new page on science bulletin boards for my website. Please contact me if you have some photos you would be willing to share.

Also, parents, if your child’s teacher has a great science bulletin board, maybe you could ask permission to take a photo and share it. Contact me if this sounds interesting.


In the Butterfly Garden

Winter is a great time to start dreaming about a new butterfly garden or expanding your current garden for butterflies.

Use some graph paper, decide how large and what shape you would like your garden to be and try some different plant combinations and arrangements.

Also, think about starting some seeds for the garden. It is fun and it will save you some money.

One of my favorite butterfly perennials is Joe Pye Weed. This is a native plant....a very large perennial with large flower heads. There are some smaller varieties available, now. The swallowtails and monarchs in my garden love this plant. It blooms August-September here in Minnesota.

If you have some photos of your butterfly garden, please share them here to give us all some new ideas as we create butterfly gardens in our backyards.


If you know of someone who would enjoy receiving Butterfly Bulletin, share this link for the Butterfly Bulletin sign up.

Do you have a hobby that you would like to turn into a business? That's exactly what I did with this website. I am using what I found to be the very best tool available! Check out these people’s stories to find out more.

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