Tucson, Arizona: Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

Many new and rare plants available for sale

Butterfly Festival and Plant Sale September 27-28

TUCSON – The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum will celebrate the eighth annual Butterfly Festival and Fall Plant Sale Saturday and Sunday, September 27 and 28, 2008. Festival activities are scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, including a plant sale on the entrance patio.

The wet monsoon season has produced a lush desert bloom, and native butterflies are taking advantage of the bounty offered on the Desert Museum grounds. Butterfly enthusiasts can see some of the 250 varieties found in the Sonoran Desert region. The life stages of a butterfly will be explained with live caterpillar and chrysalis displays and docents will lead butterfly-spotting tours demonstrating the important roll they have in desert pollination.

The much-anticipated Plant Sale (7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. both days) will offer distinctive butterfly-attracting varieties to give visitors the opportunity to build their own backyard butterfly haven. Many new and rare species will be available for sale, with some offered in limited quantities.

A complete listing of plant species offered is at www.desertmuseum.org.

The Museum horticulturists have marked plants specimens on grounds that are offered in the sale giving visitors a ‘real-life’ example how the plants will develop and grow in a garden setting. A workshop will be offered each day for home gardeners on how to choose plants and arrange a butterfly garden (11 a.m. Sat. and 1 p.m. Sun.).

Other special program features including Steve Buchanan offering a public lecture, A Butterfly Wind: Monarch Butterflies Migrate Across the Continent, at 10 a.m. and a Butterfly Puppet Show titled, Metamorphosis, from 1:30-2 p.m. on Sunday. Both are in the Warden Oasis Theatre. In addition, kids and families can enjoy fun butterfly themed arts and crafts projects, special presentations, and hands-on science opportunities. The full list of activities can be found on the Desert Museum’s website at www.desertmuseum.org/visit/events_butterflyfest.php.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

The Desert Museum is the nation’s leading outdoor living museum, featuring more than 300 species of native wildlife and 1,300 varieties of desert plants. The museum, located at 2021 N. Kinney Rd., is open every day of the year from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. March through September, and from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. October through February. Admission is free for members and children under six, $13 for adults and $4.25 for children (Sept through May). Call (520) 883-2702 or www.desertmuseum.org for more information.

Butterflies seen in Southern Arizona through October 2008

Butterfly Facts The Two-tailed Swallowtail Papilio multicaudata is Arizona’s state butterfly Butterflies are the second largest group of pollinators.....next to bees Butterflies don't have lungs Butterflies taste with their feet and smell with their antennas Butterflies can’t hear, but they can feel vibrations The largest threat to butterflies is loss of habitat Butterflies are found on all land masses except Antarctica Most butterflies live for only 2-3 weeks as adults A butterfly egg is about as big as a period on a printed page Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees Many butterflies are territorial and fight, chasing others out of their territor Female butterflies usually are bigger and live longer than male butterflies Butterflies weigh only as much as two rose petals, but can fly thousands of mile It is estimated that in nature only 2% of eggs reach maturity. Predators attack at each stage. Butterflies are cold blooded and need the warmth from sunlight to be most active

Swallowtails ·         Pipevine Swallowtail ·         Black Swallowtail ·         Giant Swallowtail Whites and Sulphurs ·         Checkered White ·         Orange Sulphur ·         Southern Dogface ·         Cloudless Sulphur ·         Large Orange ·         Lyside Sulphur ·         Mexican Yellow ·         Tailed Orange ·         Sleepy Orange ·         Dainty Sulphur Blues and Hairstreaks ·         Great Purple Hairstreak ·         Gray Hairstreak ·         Leda Ministreak ·         Marine Blue ·         Western Pygmy-Blue ·         Spring Azure ·         Ceraunus Blue ·         Reakirt’s Blue Metalmarks ·         Fatal Metalmark ·         Arizona Metalmark ·         Palmer’s Metalmark

Brush-Footed Butterflies ·         American Snout ·         Monarch ·         Queen ·         Gulf Fritillary ·         Variegated Fritillary ·         Mexican Fritillary ·         Bordered Patch ·         Tiny Checkerspot ·         Elada Checkerspot ·         Texas Crescent ·         Common Buckeye ·         Red Admiral ·         Painted Lady ·         West Coast Lady ·         American Lady ·         Empress Leilia Spread-winged Skippers ·         Hammock Skipper ·         Dorantes Longtail ·         Northern Cloudywing ·         Goldenheaded Scallopwing ·         Arizona Powdered-Skipper ·         White-patched Skipper ·         Funereal Duskywing ·         Common Checkered-Skipper/White Checkered-Skipper ·         Erichson’s White-Skipper Folded-winged Skippers ·         Common Sootywing ·         Orange Skipperling ·         Fiery Skipper ·         Bronze Roadside-Skipper ·         Toltec Skipper ·         Eufala Skipper ·         Violet-clouded Skipper

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