The Queen of Pumpkin Heads arrived in the Garden about 1PM October 26. Her head is a pumpkin and her dress is made of Holly leaves. Her castle is a giant flower pot. She has no jewels yet, but we are working on it. For the moment we think it's enough that she has a kingdom. Perhaps tomorrow we can find some jewels for her and decorate her crown, which for the moment is sadly plain.
Today, the Queen of the Pumpkin Heads joined her monster subjects, the Guardian of the Garden and Bucket Head the Garden Helper. She will preside over the monster kingdom to make sure they don’t get out of hand and frighten any small children and she will also serve as a protector and perhaps later as a food source for pollinators.
Monday, October 24, 2016 - Garland Community Garden - Monarch Release
On Monday Charlie and I released one of the Queen of Pumpkin Heads royal subjects to help prepare for her arrival--a Monarch butterfly that had been captured from the garden as a caterpillar about three weeks ago. In addition to monsters in the Garland Community Garden (that we hope will increase exponentially on October 29 with additions from the community) our garden is filled with royalty.
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Down at the Garden today, Charlie, Kevin and I worked on on preparations for our upcoming Monster Bash Event this Saturday 1 - 3PM. Two of the many butterflies we are rescuing eclosed about an hour before we went down to the garden to assemble the Queen of Pumpkin Heads. After about an hour we released both of them in the garden. Between all the Monarchs, Viceroys and Queens (both pumpkin and butterfly), the garden is overflowing with royalty.
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Charlie was dubbed as "The Butterfly Whisperer" today by Kevin. And it's a fitting name for Charlie considering how butterflies really seem to latch onto him. One of the two butterflies we released in the garden today was a Viceroy (or so we thought when we were in the garden but now in the photo shown below it appears to be a Monarch). But regardless, Viceroy or Monarch, instead of flying away to a nearby flower in our butterfly garden where it was released, the butterfly chose to cling to the side of Charlie's face. It stayed there for at least 10 minutes, perhaps longer.
The Butterfly Whisperer
This is a closeup of the butterfly that stayed on Charlie's face for so long. Now I'm inclined to think we were wrong in identifying the butterfly as a Viceroy as you can see from the clip below taken from a sign at the garden. The Viceroy has that line running alongside each of its hind wings.
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We weren't just building Monster Queens and releasing butterflies today. We also were harvesting lemon grass to make lemongrass tea packets to give away to the people at the Monster Bash on Saturday from 1PM to 3PM.
Kevin Keeling, Loving Garland Green Board member is cutting lemon grass at the Garland Community Garden
COME SUPPORT US IN OUR EFFORTS TO RAISE MONEY FOR OUR SCHOLARSHIP FUND ON SATURDAY! WE NEED YOU.
We hope you will come and see all the royalty and monsters for yourselves on Saturday October 29 from 1PM to 3PM at our Monster Bash. If we have calculated correctly, we may have two or three Monarch butterflies ready for release on that day too. Who knows? You might discover that you are a butterfly whisperer too. The only thing more thrilling than to watch a Monarch released to freedom is to be the one to have it latch onto your hand (or face) as you lift it out of its cage and upward to its destiny.
The Garland Community Garden is filled with mysteries and lessons for all. We hope you will join us on October 29 from1 to 3PM for a good time.
We are located at 4055 Naaman School Road – Garland Texas 75040.