CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QC Life) - Retirement home residents at Grace Ridge Retirement Community are opting out of the popular past times at retirement homes like playing cards or knitting to help revive the butterfly population.
Experts are seeing a decline in the butterfly population during the past 20 years and some residents are making a difference.
Every year around late August and early September, the skies and gardens along the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains begin to be filled with what appear to be beautiful, bright orange floating flowers. But in reality, this is the annual migration of eastern monarch butterflies from southern Canada to central Mexico.
For the past several years though, the butterfly population has experienced a rapid decline.
In an effort to reverse this trend, the local senior living community Grace Ridge has established a pollinator garden that is maintained by residents at the community. The garden consists of several different flowering plants such as Butterfly Weed, Zenias, Mexican Sunflowers, Lantanas, Dwarf Butterfly Bush, Coneflower, and Mountain Mint.
Carol Hamilton and Lee Helton both joined QC@3 to talk about the project.
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