Friends of Zonolite Park

Be on the lookout for viceroys at Zonolite!

If you're at the park, enjoy and protect the insects there, it's their home. This includes NOT spraying an area with insecticide if you are picnicking in at the pavilion or the field.

This includes flies - there are 18,000 fly species in North America and flies are the second most important pollinators after bees!

It looks like there may be more of these feather-legged flies at Zonolite Park 🪰🪰

It's hard to see praying mantises because they blend into their surroundings as they hunt for prey. If you see a 3-4" or larger praying mantis, it's undoubtedly a non-native one, but if you see a or smaller adult about 2 or so inches like this one in the native planting area outside the community garden then it's probably a native Carolina mantis.

Carolina mantis populations are in decline . Larger non-native mantises can outcompete and displace them. Don't buy those non-native mantis egg cases sold as "beneficial" at garden centers. They're not!

Native butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is both a nectar and host plant for monarch butterflies.

Be on the lookout in the next month or so when you visit Zonolite and you may see a monarch stopping to rest and refuel on their long journey south. We're not on the main monarch migration route so only a handful of monarchs pass through Atlanta. It’s always exciting to see one!

This beauty is from spring migration 🦋

Don’t worry if you see insects eating the native milkweed in some of the garden beds and around the park. They won’t harm the plants or impact the handful of monarchs passing through Zonolite during migration. Milkweed is a fantastic habitat support plant for hundreds of insects – the monarch is just one! Many insects are even named after this plant such as the milkweed leaf beetles snuggling on this swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).

Studies show a higher variety of insects on milkweed benefits monarchs. Monarch caterpillars fare better with the hustle and bustle of a robust predator and prey situation and more resilient monarch butterflies emerge. The aphids covering this milkweed attract predators that are interested in the aphids and take the pressure off the caterpillars as prey.

So if you see insects at Zonolite, please enjoy watching them but let them go about their business without interfering 🐛🕷️🪲

Buttonbush (cephalanthus occidentalis) is the real deal butterfly bush! According to the Lepidoptera Index buttonbush is a host plant for 19 butterflies and moths including some sphinx moths.

This wetland shrub loves moisture and is thriving in Zonolite’s sunny, wet meadow area. Even though the buttonbushes are just about done flowering, the pollinators are still making a beeline for the blooms they can find. If you look at the funky flower orb, you can see it’s made up of many tiny flowers.

Native plants are essential for supporting native insects. If you’re at the park and take a pause to watch a buttonbush for a bit, you may see the one of the threatened American bumblebees that have a nest somewhere in the park. (photo of American bumblebee on buttonbush in first comment)

Native Bidens aristosa loves Zonolite’s wet meadow! If you look closer, you’ll see bees, wasps, and butterflies getting nectar and pollen on the flowers and goldfinches on the seedheads.

🦋It's butterfly season in the Nickel Bottom Community Garden zinnia bed. You may also notice many of the garden beds also have flowers in them along with or instead of vegetables. Enjoy! 🦋