[Pepetuna]

Hamilton Gardens has long had loads of Monarch butterflies, because not only are there plentiful nectar plants, but they have been planting milkweed throughout the Gardens. Now they want to establish breeding colonies of other New Zealand butterflies. I took them some nettle plants today, and was glad to see that the few nettles that were already there had resident caterpillars. The Operations Manager hadn’t realised they were there! They’re probably Yellow Admirals as Red Admirals are much rarer in the city. We released Red Admirals today so perhaps they will mate and lay eggs on the new plants.

There is a lot of Muehlenbeckia in the Gardens already, so the next step is Coppers. I’m so happy that there is someone pushing this in Hamilton finally.

[Pepetuna]

Yes, notsotypicalblond, it shouldn’t be missed. The theme gardens are stunning. I particularly like the herb garden and the sustainable backyard garden, but there are also Italian, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese gardens, and of course significant rose gardens.
Gus Flower, the Operations Manager, is very keen to have butterflies flitting around the new tropical garden they are developing at the moment. I think it’s going to be wonderful!
I’ve managed to get one pic onto the photos here https://www.monarch.org.nz/2013/01/22/red-admiral-butterfly-release-at-hamilton-gardens/ but I’m hoping I will manage to put some more up.

[notsotypicalblonde]

Sounds awesome! Would love to visit sometime im up that way!

[Author]

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