(appears to be gone) Butterfly Garden at the University of Central Oklahoma - Edmond, OK - Butterfly Gardens on Waymarking.com

UCO's Butterfly Garden is a beautifully landscaped area northeast of the Liberal Arts building on the east side of campus. There are large rocks, trellises, and some hedges to form the boundary around this beautiful garden and protect the butterfies from the Oklahoma wind.

At least two dozen varieties of plants are in the garden, and small signs identify the various plants used here. A sign on the east side of the garden gives information on the butterflies that use this area and the plants placed here. The sign is also a campus map.

Parking is adjacent to the Butterfly Garden. If you visit when classes are not in session, you can pull in and take a quick look. If you visit UCO when school is in session, use the parking coords below to the Visitor's Parking Lot ($1/hour).

Text on Butterfly Garden sign:

Successful Butterfly Gardens create hospitable environments for butterflies by conscientiously providing what they need throughout their four life cycle stages: egg, caterpillar (larva), pupa and adult butterfly. Appropriate food plants in a wind-sheltered location will invite mature butterflies to leave their eggs on leaves and stems. When the eggs hatch, hungry caterpillars (larvae) will need to dine on pesticide-free leaves. To begin metamorphosis, the larvae enter the pupal stage while attached to a plant or protected in cocoons within crevices. These must be left alone until the butterflies emerge to drink nectar from their favorite flowers, seek mates, and begin the cycle again.

To accomodate this cycle, butterfly gardens need key components, including a wind-sheltered sunny location with shallow water, sunny rocks on which the butterflies can warm themselves, moist mineral-rich mud and appropriate pesticide-free food (foliage for caterpillars and flower nectar for adults). "Flying jewels", as butterflies are sometimes called, in return will pollinate plants and delight garden visitors.

Some annual and perennial plants frequently used in Oklahoma butterfly gardens include blanket flower (Gaillardia - the State Flower of Oklahoma), pentar, butterfly weed or milkweed (Asclepias), verbena, lantana, goldenrod (Solidago), daisies, fennel and other herbs, various sages (Salvia), butterfly bush (Buddeia), guara, catmint, coreopsis, and coneflowers. Flowers that attract butterflies tend to be radially symmetrical with a flat rim that serves as a landing platform. They also tend to be vividly colored (red, orange, yellow) and have a weak sweet scent, moderate amounts of pollen and abundant nectar. The flowers have a long tube that co-evolved with the butterfly proboscis.

Address: University of Central Oklahoma (100 N. University Dr.); NE of Liberal Arts Bldg. Parking?: N 35° 39.297 W 097° 28.218 Types of Flora: lantana, milkweed, verbena, goldenrod, blanket flower, daisies, fennel

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Date Logged Log   05/06/2018 burg*girl visited it 04/09/2016 The Snowdog visited it 04/26/2012 Max and 99 wrote comment for it 06/17/2011 hamquilter visited it 06/05/2011 Max and 99 visited it

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