Biodiversity on the Wing
Butterflies are the wild cards of the garden, bringing movement and color on their wings. But it’s winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, and all we can do is dream. Or, get in the car and head to the nearest conservatory offering a butterfly exhibit! The Nature Museums of Montréal, Québec, Canada, have scheduled “Butterflies Go Free” from February 18, 2010, to April 25, 2010. For the 13th year, the colorful insects will fly around the Main Exhibition Greenhouse at the Botanical Garden. Part of the celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity, there’ll be about 50 to 75 butterfly species from around the globe. That means at least 1,500 butterflies and moths from England, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the United States, Indonesia and elsewhere will be flitting around. Did you know that of the some 1.8 million plant and animal species inventoried to date, 2/3 are insects — and close to 175,000 of that number are butterflies? Since some estimates suggest that there may be as many as half a million varieties, there are still thousands more species to be discovered. Maybe you’ll find one in your garden come spring!