Page 29 - Sonoma County Gazette February 2017

LOUISE cont’d from page 28
Butter ies by the numbers
Louise Hallberg is a statistician and a great observer of things. Not only has she kept meticulous records of butter y populations, but the property hosts one of the longest running weather stations in the country.
Her father, John, began gathering local weather information in 1930 and the garden became a federal weather station in 1968. To this day, each Monday Hallberg calls the local newspaper, Sonoma West Times & News, with a weather report published weekly in the paper.
But it is her work with butter ies that
will leave a lasting legacy for the Graton
centenarian, who has in uenced the study of Lepidoptera in the Bay Area.
In 1990, Hallberg called the Strybing Arboretum [now the San Francisco Botanical Garden] in search of butter y plants and mentioned the number of Pipevine Swallowtail butter ies on the property. They were so impressed, a group including Strybing curator Don Mahoney came to visit and gave some advice on how to plant for butter ies.
Thus began a more focused approach to planting and more detailed record keeping that began in 1992. “What [we didn’t know] was that butter ies need nectar plants and host plants,” Hallberg said. “We learned what host plants were best, and brought in more host plants.”
Nectar plants feed the butter ies and host plants provide food for caterpillars, and each butter y species requires a speci c host plant.
a “squirrel ghetto” – up to 11 of them – foxes, owls and coyotes down by a creek on the property.
Tours of the property
The gardens are open for guided tours by appointment from April 1 to Oct. 31 every year, Wednesday through Sunday, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Additionally, there is an Annual Open Gardens Celebration on Sunday, June 25th this year that serves as a fundraiser for the non-pro t. This year will be the 20th anniversary. The celebration features a plant sale, children’s activities, book sales, science exhibits and much more.
To learn more, go to hallbergbutterflygardens.org.
Hallberg Butterfly Gardens, 8687 Oak Grove Avenue, Sebastopol, California 95472
The property will generally have 5-6 species on a daily basis once the weather warms up. More than 40 varieties of butter ies are known to have visited the gardens. Pipevine Swallowtails are the most numerous, but the species vary depending on the trends of the butter y populations.
“We’ve made an oasis here by creating biodiversity,” Hallberg said.
The butter ies bring birds and other animals follow. There are 17 turkeys on the property, as well as
It takes about 60 volunteers to work the garden during the season, so they are always looking for help. To arrange a tour, call 707-591-6967, or email Leah Brorstrom at leahbro@yahoo.com.
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