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Hopefully we’ll be seeing more colorful butterflies flitting about the island this year. Live Oaks Garden Club recently refurbished the Butterfly Garden at Demere Park. The garden has been designed to welcome butterflies and encourage all four stages of butterfly development. There is plentiful milkweed in the garden now to invite the butterflies to lay their eggs there. The milkweed is an important food source for the caterpillars that emerge from the eggs within four days. After eating, they form a chrysalis, from which an adult butterfly will emerge in about ten days. The adult will fly away in search of food and water, so abundant flowers they enjoy as food and water sources have been placed in the garden for the butterfly to enjoy.
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Live Oaks Garden Club has been responsible for the garden for approximately 15 years. The garden has been through many phases, but most recently was a native plant garden (weed garden). The club began the refurbishment project by identifying all the plants in the garden to see if they were butterfly friendly. They discovered that very few of the plants were good at attracting butterflies, so they removed most of the plants in the garden in January. The club did their homework by studying other butterfly gardens and identifying plants that were best for the butterflies that frequent our island. In March and April, they added about 200 new plants to encourage butterflies to visit and multiply.
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The garden angels who did the dirty work included team captains Gail Nagle and Melinda Smith, dedicated diggers Christina Allen, Patrice Allgood, Jane Baker, Carol Bourque, Marcia Farber, Juanita Hunke, Konnie Maxwell, Marcie Mallin, Sydney Poole, Connie Shelnutt, Rosalyn Thomas, and treasurer, Beth Thornton. The stationary butterflies you’ll see “flying” throughout the garden were painted by local artist, Karen Keene Braswell, and represent the four most common butterflies that visit our island: Monarch, Tiger Swallowtail, Gulf Fritillary, and Painted Lady. The garden is always open, so everyone is welcome to stop by and enjoy this tranquil spot. It is enjoyed by many walkers and parents of children playing softball and skateboarding at the park.
The Live Oaks Garden Club started in 1997 as an offshoot of the St. Simons Island Newcomers Group. Several members of that group wanted to stay together and at the same time learn how to successfully garden in the heat and sandy soil of Southeast Coastal Georgia. In addition, these members wanted to become involved in community gardening and landscaping projects. To supply funding for the community projects, they established the Live Oaks Garden Club Poinsettia Sale in 1999. Proceeds from the annual late fall sale go to the club's designated projects, including the refurbishment and ongoing maintenance of the Demere butterfly garden. Other projects by the garden club have included the award-winning Airport Trees Project and landscape of the Glynn Visual Arts Center, landscaping the Harrington and Gilbert Nature Trail properties, the roundabout at Demere and Frederica Roads, and the St. Simons Island Gateway. Their good works extend to Brunswick as well, where they planted a Live Oak Tree (The Justice Tree) at the Glynn County Court House, have donated and planted shrubbery at a Habitat for Humanity Home, and donated to and landscaped a Signature Square in Brunswick, and provided funds for irrigation in Mary Ross Waterfront Park. For more information about the Live Oaks Garden Club, visit liveoaksgardenclubinc.com.
