The painted ladies waited patiently for their moment.
The delicate orange-and-black butterflies, which had just arrived that morning, were about to take up residence in the freshly renovated Hidden Garden exhibit run by the Science Museum of Western Virginia.
But in order to make their grand entrance, they would need an assist from the families and museum supporters who had gathered Saturday morning to celebrate the garden’s reopening.
To mark the return of the popular exhibit, visitors were invited to help release a flutter of painted lady butterflies among the garden’s colorful flowers.
Three-year-old Salem Medina said one silly butterfly got mixed up and landed on her mom’s shirt.
“We’re not flowers!” she laughed. “Butterflies belong in flowers.”
The painted lady is one of several new species the museum is introducing to the exhibit as it completes its shift from a tropical garden to a Virginia pollinator garden centered on native butterflies.
The new focus will allow the museum to showcase more stages of a butterfly’s development and illustrate the role that the local ecosystem plays in supporting crucial pollinator populations.
“It’s more of a community-centered approach,” said Derek Kellogg, scientific director for the museum.
As part of its community outreach and education efforts, the exhibit will be offering free seeds to visitors interested in cultivating their own pollinator-friendly gardens.
It’s also accepting donations of seeds. The museum will be adding to and refining the garden as it matures.
The original incarnation of the butterfly garden exhibit took two to three years to fully develop and grow in, officials noted.
The new garden may take longer as it reflects a more complex mix of elements.
Saturday’s grand reopening came after more than nine months of renovations and replanting during which the garden was closed. The work was supported, in part, by a grant from the Foundation for Roanoke Valley that allowed the museum to buy a new lighting system designed to help nurture the plants. The lighting came from Roanoke-based gardening supply store Blue Ridge Hydroponics.
In addition to the painted ladies, the new garden also boasts small white butterflies and has monarch and Gulf fritillary caterpillars waiting in the wings. More species will be added throughout the summer.
Seven-year-old Kimble Reynolds grabbed one of the garden’s small, plastic magnifying glasses to get a closer look at the caterpillar tank and instantly recognized the tiny, green chrysalises, from which the caterpillars will emerge as full-fledged butterflies, already starting to form .
Kimble’s class has been learning about butterflies in school, explained his mom, Tammy Reynolds.
“This is a nice way to bring together what they’ve been learning,” she said of Saturday’s butterfly release.
“It’s great for them to be able to be part of it and to see how a butterfly interacts with plants and with its habitat.”