Wagner Farm Arboretum Plans Second Honey and Butterfly Event

Wagner Farm Arboretum’s second annual Butterfly Release, Honey Extraction and Craft Fayre will be held July 14 at the Arboretum. Festivities kick off at 10 a.m. with the Fun Bus, craft and food vendors, and much more.

Starting at 10:30 a.m., Rich the beekeeper will hold his annual honey extraction demonstrations in the office building.

The Children’s Garden will turn into a butterfly garden with two releases: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. This year people can sponsor Painted Ladies ($5 each) or Monarch ($7 each) butterflies or both.

Will you help save the butterflies?

Butterflies play an important part in our ecosystem: their larvae (caterpillars) are an important food source for nestlings and butterflies themselves provide important pollination services essential for food production and general ecosystem health. However, an increased number of roads, mowed lawns, and buildings are negatively impacting the diversity and abundance of butterfly species and the plants that are hosts for them. Wagner Farm Arboretum wants to change this. Wagner Farm Arboretum invites butterfly lovers to find a sunny space—approximately 10 feet by  three feet—and to plant a butterfly garden.

To make it easy, the WFA is also offering a butterfly garden starter kit for $10 that includes 10 butterfly-friendly plants in 3” pots, planting directions, and care guidelines. Orders can be picked up between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on July 14 

To sponsor a butterfly or to purchase a butterfly garden starter kit, visit the Arboretum’s website at www.wfafnj.org.