Boynton Beach Garden Club

Butterfly Certification Committee

The Butterfly Certification Committee is an active and enthusiastic group, spurred on by our love of gardening and our dedication to improving the health of our planet.

Our primary responsibility is to tour the gardens of our members who request Butterfly Sanctuary Certification. Gardens that meet the criteria receive a certificate from the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs. 

To that end, the Butterfly Certification Committee actively promotes best practices for butterfly gardening and, by extension, for gardening that is friendly to all pollinators.  We share these best practices as we:  

• give brief presentations at the club’s monthly general meetings 
• provide pollinator friendly plants for the monthly raffle 
• write articles for our Butterfly Corner for The Boynton Bloomers (our club’s monthly newsletter)
• provide materials (pamphlets, charts, flyers) that help spread knowledge about butterflies themselves and about their importance in the cycle of life as pollinators

What makes a garden worthy of the Butterfly Sanctuary Certificate ? Basically, besides refraining from using herbicides and pesticides, your garden must be growing a variety of host (larval) and nectar plants in sufficient quantities to support our beautiful winged friends. Page down to view the application for listings of some of the many larval and nectar plants in our zone. Print and follow the instructions on the APPLICATION.   

The Florida Federation of Garden Clubs (FFGC) Butterfly Sanctuary Certificate can be awarded to individuals, organizations, schools or garden clubs that have both larval plants for caterpillars and nectar plants for adult butterflies.

General information on butterflies and their habitats can be found at the websites listed below:

Florida Wildflower Foundation www.flawildflowers.org

Florida Native Plant Society www.fnps.org

Your Florida Backyard www.nsis.org