November 9, 2004 > Coyote Hills Plans Butterfly Garden Dedication

by Nancy McKay

After six years of hard work and tender loving care by park staff and many dedicated volunteers, the Butterfly Garden at Coyote Hills Regional Park is ready to dedicate. The one-acre garden is packed with examples of butterfly and hummingbird attractive plants.
Join Naturalist Jan Southworth in the dedication of the Coyote Hills Butterfly Garden and its beautiful butterfly gate beginning with a ribbon cutting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 13.

Following the dedication ceremony guests will enter through the exquisite new gate to enjoy tea, cookies and then stroll the peaceful pathways delighted by butterflies and hummingbirds as they nectar on fall flowers. The garden will be open that day from10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Come enjoy some quiet moments in the garden. You can also help complete the monarch medallion that will grace the patio wall by adding a glass pebble.

Other features include a tile mural by artist Nancy Pratt that is illustrated with children in a butterfly garden scene and is bordered by tiles depicting the metamorphosis or life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly. A set of tiles on another wall illustrates five or six butterfly species. "Both serve as teaching tools in the garden," according to Southworth.

The greenhouse vivarium, made possible by a grant from the Ohlone Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is used to raise milkweed and monarch larva that can be made available to teachers for classroom experiments.

There have also been many garden habitat enhancement projects by volunteer groups from the community including Sun Micro Systems, Clorox Foundation, Cisco Systems and Scout Troop #112 and Scout Troup #105 along with a cadre of volunteers who help regularly in the garden with propagation, planting and seed collection projects.

Scout Troops have worked on path building, fence building and garden bench construction. On the day of the dedication, members of Scout Troop 105 will be working on an Eagle Scout project to refurbish a conversation area in the garden with a cobblestone patio and a bird bath fountain.

To reach Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont, from Hwy 880, take the Decoto Road-Hwy 84 exit and go west on Hwy 84 to Paseo Padre Parkway exit; then north on Paseo Padre and west (left) on Patterson Ranch Road to park entrance.