Boynton Beach Garden Club

Butterfly Certification Committee

The Butterfly Certification Committee is an active and enthusiastic group, spurred on by our love of gardening and our dedication to improving the health of our planet.

Our primary responsibility is to tour the gardens of our members who request Butterfly Sanctuary Certification. Gardens that meet the criteria receive a certificate from the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs. 

To that end, the Butterfly Certification Committee actively promotes best practices for butterfly gardening and, by extension, for gardening that is friendly to all pollinators.  We share these best practices as we:  

  • give brief presentations at the club’s monthly general meetings 
  • provide pollinator friendly plants for the monthly raffle 
  • write articles for our Butterfly Corner for The Boynton Bloomers (our club’s monthly newsletter)
  • provide materials (pamphlets, charts, flyers) that help spread knowledge about butterflies themselves and about their importance in the cycle of life as pollinators
What makes a garden worthy of the Butterfly Sanctuary Certificate ? Basically, besides refraining from using herbicides and pesticides, your garden must be growing a variety of host (larval) and nectar plants in sufficient quantities to support our beautiful winged friends. Page down to view the application for listings of some of the many larval and nectar plants in our zone. Print and follow the instructions on the APPLICATION.   

 

The Florida Federation of Garden Clubs (FFGC) Butterfly Sanctuary Certificate can be awarded to individuals, organizations, schools or garden clubs that have both larval plants for caterpillars and nectar plants for adult butterflies.

 

General information on butterflies and their habitats can be found at the websites listed below:

Florida Wildflower Foundation www.flawildflowers.org

Florida Native Plant Society www.fnps.org

Your Florida Backyard www.nsis.org

White Peacock on milkweed

Zebra Longwing on Mexican sunflower

Queen on Bidens Alba

Eastern Swallow

My Porchview Garden
 
My Porchview Garden came to life yesterday after a full day of digging, planting, mulching, and shaping the stones that now frame it. As we worked, my garden assistant smiled and said, “Now, you will get many visitors.” She is from the Mam tribe of Guatemala, and hearing her and the other helpers speak in their native language felt like music threading through the work. Their presence added a depth I hadn’t expected but deeply cherished.

I designed this garden with intention—choosing colorful native and Florida‑friendly plants that would welcome pollinators and finally bring my dream of a butterfly garden to life. Having Mayan women help build it made the experience even more meaningful. In their tradition, butterflies are believed to be the souls of fallen warriors or ancestors returning to remind us that life is about change and personal growth. That belief settled into the garden as naturally as the mulch and the roots.

Gardens are always changing, always teaching. This one will be my teacher. I look forward to learning how each plant grows, what it needs, and which pollinators it will draw. And as if to bless the space, a Monarch appeared just hours after we finished planting. I hope it brings more spirits with it.

Plant material used in the approx 14 x 18’ ft space are included in a pic here. I’ve categorized them as HOST or NECTAR and what butterflies I hope to attract. The prairie grasses are neither host, nor nectar but offer pollinators ground protection- and they are pretty and low maintenance.

I hope my garden club friends will visit soon and share their expertise with me.
Maria Freed
VP, Boynton Beach Garden Club