Six members and one guest of the Laureate Zeta Omicron Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi met with Alycyn Culbertson at the Fred Funk Butterfly Garden on the grounds of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Lake Griffin Road in Lady Lake, just outside The Villages, on Friday, July 26, 2019. Alycyn took us through the many individual plots each housing both nectar and host plants for a particular butterfly. She gave us a map of the grounds with each garden listed with the names of plants and the butterfly those plants attract. We watched Long-tailed Skippers, Southern Dogface Sulphers, and various types of Swallowtail butterflies dart between host plants sucking their nectar. We began in the nursery where Monarch caterpillars gobble their milkweed host plant, and form a chrysalis. About one week later, the beautiful Monarch butterfly emerges. “If you want to attract butterflies to your garden,” Alycyn said, “start by planting good nectar plants like freebies, Lantana or Penta. Add some host plants like milkweed or passion vine to keep butterflies in your garden.”
The Villages Butterfly Garden Club meets on the third Friday of each month from 1:30-3:20. Members of this club often visit the garden and perform upkeep. The public is welcome at all times to visit this garden at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 231 Lake Griffin Rd. in Lady Lake.
