Thursday, April 05, 2007

Butterflies are Blooming

Meijer Garden - Butterflies are Blooming
March 1 to April 30, 2007
It’s the largest temporary tropical butterfly exhibit in the nation and our most popular annual event! Escape the Michigan winter and mingle with thousands of tropical butterflies flying free in the 15,000 sq-foot Lena Meijer Conservatory.
The exhibition boasts more than 40 different species from the Far East and Central America. Each week hundreds of Chrysalises arrive at Meijer Gardens and are painstakingly sorted, inspected, labeled and pinned in our sealed Butterfly Bungalow. Here, visitors may even get the opportunity to witness a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis.
Once ready to be released into the Conservatory, the butterflies are paced on the Butterfly Rest Stop where they acclimate to the environment and gain strength before taking to the air. It’s a wonderful place for photos and just one of the opportunities for visitors to observe butterflies up-close and personal. Throughout the tropical environment, butterflies can be viewed drinking nectar from the flowering plants and feeding stations, landing on the odd nose or shoulder, and
congregating along the stream beds, as well as in flight all around.
During the exhibit, the Lena Meijer Children’s Garden will offer special activities, and interactive displays will be featured.
Exhibit Hours: Monday - Sunday, 9am to 5 pm; Tuesday 9am to 9pm.
It is a bit pricey as single families but groups of 10 are $3 a person. Which would save my family $12.

Anyone want to plan a trip and go with us?

2 comments:

Mindy Richmond said...

I would be up for that, as long as we went on a weekend!

Gina Conroy said...

We hatched our own butterflies last year. They came as caterpillars from insectlore.com and I was so surprised at how fast they grew. This year we might order some tadpoles!