The annual presentation evening took place at Stratford Arts House on Monday 24 September to celebrate local gardening achievements. Beating off strong competition from the other contenders, the Butterfly Farm received an engraved trophy, certificate & Blenheim Nursery voucher.
The Butterfly Farm opened its wildflower garden back in 2010 so visitors could see an extensive range of British butterflies in their natural habitat. Creating a butterfly-friendly garden is one of the simplest ways in which we can help halt the decline of these beautiful insects. Large planters contain the top 10 butterfly nectar plants so the garden has continuous nectar throughout the season. The garden has also been designed with the colour of blossoms in mind. Butterflies are attracted to blue, purple, pink and yellow coloured flowers. Clusters of short, tubular flowers or flat topped blossoms provide the ideal shapes for butterflies to easily land on and feed. Butterflies are also great gardeners as they pollinate each and every plant they land on!
Jane Kendrick, Marketing Manager at Stratford Butterfly Farm said “Our garden is a very special haven in which butterflies can live and we were absolutely thrilled to be awarded 1st place in the Tourist Properties category. The judges were particularly impressed with our ability to garden during a drought. We would like to say a huge thank you to our gardeners Catherine Gibbons and Chris White as well as the Education Team plus our wonderful work experience students who managed to maintain a riot of colour throughout the summer”.
Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm’s ‘How to Create a Nature Garden’ is available to download from the website.
To see hundreds of spectacular butterflies, insects, reptiles and spiders visit the Butterfly Farm from 10am to 5.30pm. Open every day of the week except Christmas Day. For more information including admission prices and group rates, please visit the website at www.butterflyfarm.co.uk or telephone on 01789 299288.
