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Monarch
(Danaus plexippus)
Caterpillar hosts: Milkweeds including common milkweed (Asclepius syriaca), swamp milkweed
(A. incarnata), and showy milkweed (A. speciosa); and milkweed
vine in the tropics. Most milkweeds contain cardiac glycosides which are stored in the bodies of both the caterpillar
and adult. These poisons are distasteful and emetic to birds and other vertebrate predators. After tasting a Monarch,
a predator might associate the bright warning colors of the adult or caterpillar with an unpleasant meal, and avoid
Monarchs in the future.
Adult food: Nectar from all milkweeds. Early in the season before milkweeds bloom, Monarchs visit a variety of flowers
including dogbane, lilac, red clover, lantana, and thistles. In the fall adults visit composites including goldenrods,
blazing stars, ironweed, and tickseed sunflower.
Monarchs are found around many open habitats including fields, meadows, weedy areas, marshes, and roadsides.
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How The Gardens Came To Be
By Louise Hallberg
I have lived in the house at the gardens since I was a child. In the 1920s I attended Oak Grove School,  where we studied wildflowers
and birds. One day, when I was still a child, my mother found an odd vine in a roadside ditch on the way to her cousin's house. She
planted a layered piece by our tank house and it spread across our yard. When the Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly
found it and laid eggs, we had caterpillars, then chrysalises, then butterflies!
Strybing Arboretum Joins
In April 1990, I called Strybing Arboretum because they were selling plants
that attract butterflies. Barbara Deutsch answered. In the course of our conversation, I mentioned there were about 50 Pipevine
Swallowtail butterflies flying in my yard. Barbara soon came to see the garden and its butterflies,  bringing Strybing plant manager Don Mahoney
and landscaper Jeff Caldwell, who specializes in butterflies. They suggested starting a butterfly garden on the north side where
the sun shines.
In those days there wasn't much information about gardening for butterflies, but Jeff sent detailed information and nectar and
host plant lists. My helper Judy and I started creating habitat right away. We replaced a kindling pile and construction debris
with a strawberry tree, butterfly bushes, rose-colored Centranthus, and Verbena. The habitat garden quickly jumped the seasonal
stream and spread up the hill.
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Hallberg Butterfly Gardens Becomes A Non-Profit
In 1997, we became a non-profit 501c3 corporation, and launched our tradition of opening the garden to the public on our "
Open Gardens Day." About the same time, some teachers from Oak Grove School asked if they could bring their classes to see the Gardens,
so we started school tours. Word spread and more schools began coming.
A class trip to Miss Hallberg's Butterfly Garden,
by Gay Bishop Brorstrom and Kathy Geotzel
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Over the years, Hallberg Butterfly Gardens has had thousands of visitors and has been featured in
books,
magazines,
newspapers, and even television programs! People come from near and far, even other countries to see my gardens and butterflies.
I am pleased that habitat gardening is becoming more and more popular.
- Louise Hallberg
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