Sarnia has a special garden.
It is a residential garden designated as a Monarch Waystation.
It offers resources that help native butterflies by providing host plants for eggs and larva for a variety of butterflies.
The waystation had an open house hosted by Karen Durance, the homeowner.
It is just a few streets over from our house, so we strolled over to see what we can learn. The garden itself is inviting and beautiful.
We examined the literature that Karen displayed at the entrance to the garden,
and the plastic containers that held eggs, larvae, and caterpillars.
We then looked at some of the chrysalis tent. Afew butterflies already emerged and there were a few that were almost ready (the darker ones).
We learned to tell the difference between male and females. The males have black dots along some of those black veins on their wings.
We watched as one of the children got to release one of the butterflies.
it stayed on his finger for a split second before taking off
and landing on a baby’s head.
Each fall, monarchs set out on an incredible 3,000 miles journey from southern Canada to their wintering sites in the mountain forests of Mexico. Beth at ETB Travel Photography wrote about her visit to a monarch sanctuary in Mexico and her experience with this migration. Read her excellent description of the site and the incredible migration of this butterfly here .
Did you know that it takes four generations to migrate from Canada to Mexico and back?
They start off in a garden like this one.
There need to be many milkweed plants in the garden since this is the only plant that the monarch butterfly will eat.
We walked around and watched the bumble bees, butterflies and other, less identifiable insects , buzz happily around darting from one blossom to the next.
Finally, there was a chicken coup,
With a couple of chickens.
This just made us happy 🙂
If you want to help a butterfly, do plant milkweed plants in your garden. the fourth generation will thank you when they get back.
What a lovely garden! The air must have been humming with all the winged visitors. And it’s wonderful that you can enjoy it.
I’m glad we went. It was a serene oasis with a purpose!
It looks like a happy day for sure. These are such amazing creatures and Waystations are so necessary these days. Have a wonderful Sunday. Allan
They really are. It was neat to see the different stages from egg to butterfly!
Milkweed was an essential part of every garden I had. Such beautiful photos.
It is crucial for their survival!
wow!
They should flying over you any day now!
The annual migration of monarchs is one of the most amazing and remarkable physical feats. 4th generation—wow!
And the incredible thing is that there is no one left from the first generation to guide them!
A fantastic place to visit. Thanks for sharing. I had planted a butterfly garden a few years ago. Though I need to plant some milkweed. We get the monarchs passing through in fairly large numbers beginning in mid August. Though, I feel like those numbers have been dropping over the years. Their journey is an incredible one. Thanks for this Margie.
Yes, numbers are declining so it is so important to help them in any way we can!
This is fantastic! It looks like Karen has done a great thing for the butterflies in her gorgeous yard! And then sharing it with others is an even greater thing. Her chicken coop is adorable. It made me happy reading your post. Have a wonderful week ahead.
I’m so glad it made you happy ❤️
Until seeing this lovely post, I thought MONARCH WAYSTATION is MAR-A-LAGO (Trump’s regal domain in Florida). 😀
You are too funny!
Love this. Such a beautiful and purposeful garden. Thanks for all the interesting information. I started milkweed this spring from seed but it won’t be ready for monarchs until the fourth generation.
Glad to hear you incorporated milkweed in your gorgeous garden! A butterfly will thank you ☺️
A very beautiful place! 🥰
It is!
A great place for adventures 🙂
It is!
I love the whole deal. I love the whole story. I don’t get the four generations bit. I get three but my old and addled brain needs some help here Margie.
There is one generation that migrates from Canada to Mexico. This generation lives for a few months and movies from Mexico to mate and lay eggs and die. This generation is known as ‘Methuselah’ because they live so long. After that there are up to three more generations each generation living about a month as they make their way to Canada. The new generations that will travel to Mexico and to Canada have no ancestors to show them the way, which is incredible.
Nice place. I look forward to seeing it the next time I am up there. Nice photos, too.
Thanks, Fawaz and I hope you get to see it next time she does her open house!
What a beautiful garden and a great way to help the butterflies. I had no idea how to tell the difference between male and female Monarch butterflies. How interesting. And good to know about milkweed. We’ll have to add this to our gardens. We’re planning on visiting Point Pelee later this fall and are hoping to catch the end of the butterfly migration.
I had the same plan, but change of plans and we are heading to Denver again. Another near miss 🙂
One of these days our paths are bound to intersect!
What an interesting garden! I love initiatives like this that helps nature. I didn’t realize it takes four generations to do a full migration.
And the photo of the butterfly on the baby’s head is just precious.
I love that photo too and yes, there was so much information!
The monachs epic is exceptional, I tend to prefer the butterfly version to the caterpillar version.
Me too 🙂
For some reason it seems we see less butterflies than years ago.
There are less butterflies. They are now considered endangered species that are threatened by habitat oo and climate change. Sad.
I visited a butterfly sanctuary in New Zealand, but this one is so much more detailed and informative. The butterfly on the baby’s head is so sweet! Good for you for a quick capture.
Butterfly sanctuaries are cool. The thing that struck me about this place is that this is just someone’s home in the city. This lady decided that she will do something to help and she did!
A fantastic garden for such a worthwhile cause. I would love to visit this one day. Wonderful photos – loved this post!
Thank you! It was a very cool project and garden to visit and we learnt so much!