Beautiful Pictures Of Migrating Monarch Butterflies Filling Up On Plant Nectar At Roosevelt Island Community Garden On Way To Mexico - Can RI Become A Monarch Way Station & Urban Bird Friendly Community?

Roosevelt Island Garden Club (RIGC) Board Member for Publicity and Outreach Julia Ferguson shares these beautiful photos taken at the Garden by Jenna Longo and reports:

​Watch for the Monarch butterflies on Roosevelt Island!

Thanks to collaborative efforts in recent years, our Island has added several sites committed to native plantings and pollinator habitats. These are very important for late summer and autumn nectar supplies.

The Monarch Butterfly Corridor Project sponsored by iDig2Learn in collaboration with many other Island groups got us all started two years ago in October 2015. Roosevelt Island Garden Club now has quite a few committed pollinator and native plant gardeners and the club is including important native and pollinator plants in landscape beds.

P.S. 217 has pollinator habitat beds. RIOC, RIHS Kiosk garden, Cornell Tech and some of our housing companies have also planted natives and late season pollinator nectar sources like Red Cardinal Flower, Blue Cardinal Flower, New England Asters, and Goldenrods. Can Roosevelt Island truly become and remain a Monarch Way Station? At the same time we would become an urban Bird Friendly Community?

Last Saturday, it looked like all this might be a real possibility.

At RIGarden Club dozens and dozens of monarchs and many types of bees were filling up on nectar with only the native and heirloom plantings. Enjoy these photos and those above courtesy of Jenna Longo.

Imagine the possibilities as we continue to surround our Island with healthy soil, plants, and pollinator habitat gardening!

Check out the Roosevelt Island Garden Club blog for more info on what's happening at our community garden.

Here's more fascinating information on the Monarch Butterfly migration.