Montgomery County TN Master Gardeners
  • Home
  • Project List
  • Gardening Articles
  • Contact
  • Becoming a MG

DUNBAR CAvE BUTTERFLY GARDEN

Dunbar Cave Butterfly Garden was created with the goal of developing a natural habitat for butterflies, moths, bees and other pollinators using plants native to the area. The Montgomery Master Garden Association has partnered with the Tennessee Forestry Department to helping upkeep and continue planting and creating this habitat.

take a tour at the butterfly garden
​

  • Welcome to the Garden

    Explore on your own by clicking any dot on the map, or follow along from this card to learn about the plants and pollinators in this garden.

  • White Heath Aster

    Symphyotrichum ericoides

    Host plant for the Pearl Crescent butterfly. Flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies. Songbirds and small mammals eat the seeds [1].

  • Joe-Pye Weed

    Eutrochium purpureum

    Many species of butterflies, moths, bees, and flies visit the flowers [2]. It is larval host to the eupatorium borer moth, the red groundling moth, the ruby tiger moth, and the three-lined flower moth [3].

  • Hibiscus ‘Luna White’

    Hibiscus moscheutos

    It is a larval host for the common checkered skipper, the gray hairstreak, the Io moth, and the pearly wood nymph [4].

  • Zinnia

    Zinnia elegans

    Butterflies commonly attracted to zinnias include swallowtails, monarch, painted and American ladies, and red admiral [5].

Text
[1] North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. 
[2] Wilhelm, Gerould; Rericha, Laura (2017). Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis. Indiana Academy of Sciences.
[3] The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
[4] Penn State Extension 


Images
All Dunbar Cave Garden Images by Adriana De La Cuadra.
[1] Pearl Crescent, 
Phyciodes tharos. Kenneth Dwain Harrelson, Wikimedia.
[2] Aster miner bee, Andrena asteris. Peterwchen, Wikimedia. 
[3] Eupatorium borer moth, Carmenta bassiformis. AmaryllisGardener, Wikimedia. 
[4] Red groundling moth, Perigea xanthioides. Public domain image.
[5] Three-lined flower moth, Schinia trifascia.
[6] Ruby tiger moth, Phragmatobia fuliginosa. Hectonichus, Wikimedia. 
[7] Common checkered-skipper, Pyrgus communis. Kaldari, Wikimedia.
[8] Gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus. Jengod, Wikimedia.
[9] Lo moth, Automeris io. Patric Coin, Wikimedia. 
[10] Pearly wood-nymph, Eudryas unio. Ruigeroeland, Wikimedia.
[11] Tiger Swalowtail, Papilio appalachiensis. Glacierman, Wikimedia.
[12] Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui. Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, Wikimedia.
[13] Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta. Charlesjsharp, Wikimedia.
[14] Monach, Danaus plexippus. Kenneth Dwain Harrelson, Wikimedia.





  • Home
  • Project List
  • Gardening Articles
  • Contact
  • Becoming a MG