Leave your passport at home and come to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden to experience some of the planet’s most beautiful pollinators in one convenient place. Butterflies in the Garden, presented by Central Market, will take flight, March 1 through April 14, in the Rainforest Conservatory. One of the Garden’s most anticipated seasonal exhibits, guests will enjoy thousands of breathtaking exotic and native butterflies as they flutter through the lush foliage and tropical flowers in the conservatory. Butterflies in the Garden is the largest exhibit of live, exotic butterflies in north central Texas.
See butterflies of every size and hue, including Central American butterflies such as the Starry Night Butterfly (Hamadryas Iaodamia), the Mosaic (Colobura dirce), the elegant Glass Wing (Greta oto), the Pink-Spotted Cattleheart (Parides photinus), the green Malachite (Siproeta stelenes), the Tiger Longwing (Heliconius hecale), and the Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides). Species from North and South America, Africa, and Asia will also be flittering from flower to flower. Two lepidopterists, specialists in the study of butterflies and moths, will be onsite to oversee pupae arrivals and monitor the health of the Garden’s visiting butterflies once they emerge.
“There is no one place in nature where you could go to see the wide variety of butterflies that are a part of the Garden’s extraordinary exhibit,” said visiting lepidopterist Lucy Milas G. Salik, Ph.D. “It’s exciting to be able not only to share their beauty with guests, but also to educate them on the importance of these powerful pollinators.”
In nature, butterflies play a vital role as pollinators for many plants and flowers. These winged wonders inadvertently collect pollen on their legs as they land on flowers and then transfer it to other blooms they encounter. This process promotes cross-pollination and genetic diversity in plant groups.A massive 80 percent of land plants are pollinated by insects and animals.
Tickets for timed entrance to the butterfly exhibit may be purchased online at fwbg.org. Online admission prices are $12 for adults (16-64), $10 for seniors (65+), $8 for children (6-15), and free for children five and under. Combo tickets for both the butterfly exhibit and the Garden are $22 for adults, $20 for seniors and $12 for children. Don’t miss out on this rare display of butterfly beauty!
