This is your garden and you can help keep it green.

There’s an opportunity for a club or individual to help support the garden. We have a yearly sponsorship renewable each year for $250 for the walkway, upper garden and one for the lower garden. If that is not of your liking you can still give a cash donation for needed items for the garden. You can check the bottom of this page and see the credits. For more information contact Bill Oakley email him at Ourvieraeast@gmail.com

New flowers are going into the garden to add a little color this winter. The signs has been updated. As you can see from this view, the ground cover has been laid either end of the garden to get ready for wildflowers and 6 to 8 weeks. Thanks to several of the volunteers that do the work. We have had a beautiful garden this past year. Come, and watch the butterflies. Enjoy the flowers and ponder the day away.

Ready to plant a butterfly garden?

I have been asked by many people how to start a butterfly garden. What plants can I add to my current garden to make it more butterfly friendly. First before we get to the plants, we need to have the garden ready. If you currently have weeds in your garden, they will need to be removed. You have a couple choices? Dig them all up by hand or a cover the ground with a plastic barrier trash bags, fabric ground cloth, lay newspaper, or cardboard on top of them for 6 to 8 weeks, and they will die out by themselves. We chose a thick ground-cover. We rolled it back eight weeks later, all weeds had died. Then all we had to do is rake till the soil.

The garden is now ready for planting. I would suggest when you put the new plants in your garden plan on watering them daily for a week or two. After that if they are native plants, they should be able to take care of themselves. That’s the big advantage of planting native plants.

Prepare the soil around the plant with some type of compost, organic fertilizer and even the light spread of worm castings. Choose host plants, and nectar plants that specific butterflies.  The place where you purchase the plants should be able to help with your selection. Butterflies will need some of each. A nice thing about having plants is you will increase the number of bees and birds you have in your garden. You might even be lucky enough to get a hummingbird. Remember butterflies lay eggs on specific host plants then caterpillars will eat those plants when they hatch. The nectar plants will provide food for the butterflies. 

There are many good YouTube videos on this subject.

Happy planting, and good luck.

Interesting Butterfly Videos taken at the garden

The newest videos will be posted on the top. There are many more videos below so keep viewing.

Video link

Video link

A video on the new lower garden

A happy time at the garden. We just released ten painted ladies butterflies. Enjoy the video.

This garden has been done for the enjoyment of others.

Please give the video a thumbs up and leave a comment under the video on YouTube.

The upper butterfly garden at Suseda Park

The Butterfly Garden Makeover

Starting in June 2022 in nine months there have been over 20 volunteers working on the garden. In the garden there have been over six different species of butterflies viewed. Also stopping by for a enjoyable visit turtles, wide variety birds, and the ever constant squirrels. Currently, the garden has over 23 different varieties of plants, bushes, flowers, and trees. Approximately $1000 of plants and other materials have been donated. Enjoy the videos.

The week of March 6 week had six volunteers show up. It was great to see some new faces. Some of the volunteers donated new plants for the garden. All total we planted 35 plants. We have added wild flowers to the front of the garden on one side. See if you can tell the difference.

Below are a few of the volunteers that meant on January 13, 2023 to go over the update on the lower garden. From left to right Joan, Debby, Lisa, Matt and Hannah. Look for this to happen this spring.

We are adding new volunteers all the time. Shivani & Keyur Patel and long with Debra Bara are picture here. We really appreciate all the help. The garden couldn’t be done without all your help.

Drone Footage of the garden

In 2014 a butterfly garden was built in Suseda Park in Viera, Florida. After several years of “let nature take its course” the garden is to be renovated. With the help of 20 volunteers and the Boy Scouts troop 720 things are starting to come together. Music Cambrielle for this video was by Ken Thompson. Ken also did the drone footage. A big thank you to Ken.

Mother Nature’s Butterfly Garden

Did you know there is a Butterfly Garden in Suseda Park at 5805 Murrell Road in Viera Florida? Here’s where the story begins. It was planted in 2014 and is in need of some major updating. We have started with the cleanup and the ground preparation for new plants. On July 26, 2022  the VECA board Viera East Community Association approved revitalizing the old garden. These new improvements are to include a new mulched walk way done by the Boy Scouts, new bench, upgraded sprinkler system, signs noting the garden, and of course new plants. This should be a peaceful place to come and set and watch the day fly by. Now this is where you come in. Do you have any gardening experience and would like to share it with our community. We are in need of a few people that would like to help plant the new flowers and bushes. If you feel you can help please private message me. List of the persons whom have already given products to garden. This was at no cost to VECA. Pastor Myer Has given wood chips and ground mulch. Ken Peck Delivered one truck load of ground mulch to the garden. Verdescape  Landscaping         Landscape cloth. OurVieraEast.com Signs for the garden, Butterfly puddling station and upgraded the sprinkle system.

Today at the garden

Here cleanup of the garden and planting new plants has added to the wildlife. Pictured here is one of the volunteers planting one of five new Salvia. More plants will be coming.

You can see a lot of interesting things at the garden. A nice place to stop and enjoy mother nature.

A picnic table has been added to the garden. Come and enjoy lunch in the shade at the garden. The pine straw has been spread and a new butterfly tiny house is all setup for new residences.

Yes you can have a plant planted in Memory of a friend or loved one. It will be noted on this Website as we don’t want to get to many signs in the garden.

Jill Gaines would like to share these plants in memory of Ernest Arico, Darrell Woehler, Fred Mast, and Carson Blue. Partridge Pea, Bahama Cassia, and Cootie Palm

Kim Oakley would like to share this plant in memory of her grand mother Barbara Oakley who passed just two weeks short of her 99 birthday. Sweet Almond Shrub

Heidi Lutz would like to share these plants “Corky Stem Passionvine” in memory of her late husband. The butterflies just can’t stay away.

Donations

There’s an opportunity for a club or individual to help support the garden. We have a yearly sponsorship renewable each year for $250 for the walkway, upper garden and one for the lower garden. If that is not of your liking you can still give a cash donation for need items for the garden. For more information contact Bill Oakley email him at Ourvieraeast@gmail.com

_{We had a veteran who name was Wilson stop by the garden for a while. He rides his bike around the park and said how much he enjoyed the garden. He ask if he could give us a donations to go for more flowers. I gladly accepted. New plants will go in next week.}

Thanks to Desiree at Landscape Depot we now have a stone walkway in the garden. With this type of support it is interesting how things take shape.

I would like to thank Jane for the generous donations. This is to go for new plants and support of the garden. Jane is a nurse and would like to help but she is not able to. She really enjoys what we have done at the garden.

Shirley Ferguson of Ferguson‘s Nursery Thank you for the donations of bamboo stakes horse manure, and surplus flowers. Donation of these items have a big help in keeping the cost of the butterfly garden down to a reasonable amount.

Thanks to Victor from Verdescape Lawn Care for their support.

Thanks to Mark Grounds Professional for their support.

Thanks to several people who wanted to remain anonymous. You know who you are 🙂