2023 Report for Hemingway Butterfly Garden: Mariposas del Mundo

Year

2023

Number of volunteers

21

Total volunteer hours

84

Number of events

11

Number of shrubs planted

15

Enter more details about shrubs planted

Pussy willow, black elderberry (2), gray dogwood, witchhazel (2), red osier dogwood, lowbush blueberry (3), highbush cranberry (1), buttonbush (2), snowberry (2)

Number of perennials planted

22

Enter more details about perennials planted

turtlehead (2), lanceleaf coreopsis (2), blue vervain (1), Joe pye weed (1), purple coneflower (2), agastache (2), verbena (2), wood aster (10)

Yards compost spread

0.50

Summary

Mariposas del Mundo (Butterflies of the World) is a thriving butterfly garden Greenspace committed to supporting monarch, swallowtail, and other native butterflies at all stages of life. The garden was started by Quinnipiac East management team project leader Kat Calhoun in 2020 and has since become a pollinator's delight, with a wealth of native plants specifically selected to host and sustain native pollinators — especially monarch, tiger swallowtail, eastern black swallowtail, and spicebush swallowtail butterflies. This summer, the Greenspace group's focus has been keeping the garden watered and fighting back lots of Japanese knotweed as well as mugwort and other unwanted plants. We also planted over 20 additional butterfly-friendly native plants, laid stone dust on the paths, and set log slabs on the edges of the beds. With the tireless, weekly work of a core group of volunteers including Kat, Marty, Peter, Eric, Sonia, Diana, and Joan as well as occasional help from neighborhood children, this garden is now a shining example of what a pollinator garden in New Haven can be.