A large part of the EPCOT Flower and Garden Show, which runs every year from the beginning of March through May, is the display gardens, each focused on a different theme, such as water-wise gardening, prehistoric plants, plants to attract pollinators, or gardening with edibles. Honestly, the water-wise garden was a disappointment, but they did have a pretty cool cactus and succulent garden that I'll show in a future post, called Cactus Road Rally (it featured characters from the movie Cars).
My favorite display garden was called Butterflies On The Go.
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| You pass these butterfly topiaries on the way to the exhibit |
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| Looks a lot like Ajuga 'Black Scallop', interplanted with marigolds. The body might be creeping jenny, or perhaps some kind of golden Sedum like 'Ogon.' |
While I probably won't be using marigolds as a companion plant to my 'Black Scallop' Ajuga, this did make me consider interplanting it with some other self-sowing annuals that I like better.
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| The temporary butterfly exhibit is created by draping a tent over beds full of nectar plants. |
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| The entrance covered with a beaded curtain lets people in easily, while corralling the butterflies within. |
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| There was a handful of these chrysalis shelters throughout the tent, where people would gather to watch butterflies emerge. |
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| Inside the tent, the beds are planted with a colorful assortment of nectar-producing plants |
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| There was a water feature that is probably a permanent part of the bed, during times of the year when the Flower and Garden Show isn't running |
None of the plants were identified, but the beds were full of informational signs about the butterflies, as well as general info about the exhibit itself.
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| Perfectly posed real butterfly -- I think he saw my camera coming! |
Despite the admonishment in the "Native Nectar Plants" sign above about using tropical milkweed, the red and yellow flower below looks to me like Asclepias curassavica, the tropical milkweed. Oops.
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| It sure is a pretty butterfly, though. |
These are probably some of the best shots I've taken of butterflies. They're notoriously difficult to capture in pictures, and my own garden caters more to bees and hummingbirds than butterflies, so they don't stay in my own garden long.
I hope you enjoyed them!
