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The Victoria Butterfly Gardens

Article by Mikayla, Photos by Tineke

By Tineke Ziemer

May 8^th, 2016

The Victoria Butterfly Gardens are a beautiful 12,000 square foot tropical environment where up to 75 species of butterflies live in all different sizes from 1/8 to 12 inches. Along with the butterflies, there are many other animals there such as birds, ducks, flamingoes, poison dart frogs, tortoises, turtles, and giant koi. Fluttering butterflies have thousands of kinds of tropical plants to fly around, creating the perfect environment for them. A few of the plants there are papaya trees, pineapple, coffee beans, and vanilla beans growing on a vine, and so many others. Many of the animals there are donated to the garden to live in a better place.

A butterfly’s life starts as a caterpillar, then into a cocoon. At the Emerging Window in the gardens there are lots of cocoons hanging. If you’re lucky you just might see a butterfly emerging from his cocoon. Once they are released from the emerging window, they can fly freely around the garden. Maria Novak, a visitor to the gardens, mentioned how neat it was to see all the birds and butterflies flying around without limitations. Although the butterflies can land on people, the gardens ask you not to handle the butterflies because they could get hurt. There are many different kinds of butterflies at the garden some of which are King Swallowtail, Plain Tiger, Blue Morpho, Great Eggfly, Green Moss Peacock, and the Monarch Butterfly. Maria liked the White Tree Nymph because of the colours and it stayed still for her while she got photos of it. 600 to 1,200 butterflies get released a week.

The Butterfly Gardens have tons off other animals there as well. There are over 60 tropical birds, some with very unique personalities, like Little E, an Eclectus (male), who likes to flirt with some women. Maria had a funny story with the Picasso, a blue crowned conure, “Every time I tried to take a photo of him he turned the other way, he was playing with me,” she said. They also have fish with 15,000 gallons of water to swim in.

Around the gardens there are lots of displays and exhibits to look at, and daily tours. You can also take a break and grab a souvenir, gift, or educational materials at their shop. So if you’re in Victoria stop by and visit the Victoria Butterfly Gardens.