Butterfly Garden on the Trail
Visit the Garden in the center of the PJC corridor, accessible from 24th street, to see the plants bursting with Spring growth. Our Garden includes some of the nectar plants that attract butterflies. Among them are the Butterfly Bush, Aster, Phlox, Purple coneflower, Bee Balm, Coreopsis, Shasta Daisy, and Salvias that will be blooming soon.
The Monarchs will be drawn to the Butterfly weed that is beginning to break through. Monarchs contain cardiac glycosides, which can make birds violently ill after eating the butterfly. Their bright color serves as a reminder of their bad taste to deter a predator. In some cases, good-tasting species have evolved to look like bad-tasting species and benefit from this type of mimicry. This is probably true of the Viceroy butterfly that looks much like the Monarch.
We don’t recommend you do any taste tests! Just come and look.