Butterfly Garden
Lois Rowland Butterfly Garden
The Lois Rowland Butterfly Garden is situated at a fork in the Regence Fitness Path north of the Idaho State Veterans’ Home.
On a warm summer day patient observers might see several butterfly species who visit the colorful flowers in the garden for nectar including:
- Western Tiger Swallowtail
- Pale Swallowtail
- Cabbage White
- Hairstreak, several Species
- Weidemeyer’s Admiral
- Lorquin’s Admiral
- Mourning Cloak
- Great Spangled Fitillary
- Monarch
- Painted Lady
- Alfalfa Sulfer
Hummingbirds are attracted by many of the same plants butterflies enjoy. In the Lois Rowland Butterfly Garden you might see these hummingbirds:
- Colliope Hummingbird
- Rufous Hummingbird
- Black-chinned Hummingbird
Lois Rowland Butterfly Garden History
A butterfly garden was identified as a desirable feature for the park at a public meeting sponsored by the City of Lewiston and Modie Park Conservancy in 1994. The Butterfly Garden began slowly and has grown through the efforts of its namesake and numerous other volunteers. Construction began in May 2000 when five year old Arizona Cypresses from the Genetic Archive were transplanted along the path with a tree spade as a wind break. Three other evergreen species were planted in the windbreak; White Pine, Spruce, Concolor Fir. Water from a new irrigation stand pipe helped establish the grove.
In 2001 a small plot of annuals and perennials was planted by MPC volunteers and Girl Scouts.
2003 A flagstone courtyard and benches were installed adjacent to the garden as a memorial to Lois Rowland, a former member of the Modie Park Conservancy Board of Directors and a serious gardener, who contributed greatly to the butterfly garden project.
