by Mary Reid Barrow

Out of the blue, it felt like, a boldly colored cecropia moth was suddenly in view on a tree in the Butterfly Garden at Virginia Beach Middle School.

She was slowly opening and closing her wings. It turns out, she had just emerged from her cocoon and was waiting/hoping for a male to stop by and mate before she laid her eggs, said Maurice Cullen, butterfly garden founder and now retired middle school life sciences teacher.

This was several years ago, and I was blown away by the sight of the beautiful moth and to have insight into her life story unfolding, so to speak, along with her wings.

This is the way it is at the butterfly garden. Hardly a visit goes by without seeing something I had not seen before or hadn’t seen in a while.

I’m hoping we’ll witness another such momentous event in the insect world on LRNow’s Bug Walk from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 1, at the garden. This home to insects galore blooms and fades with the seasons along the bike path between 25th and 26th streets behind the middle school. Maurice and Dean Firth, another bug aficionado and mentee of Maurice’s, will lead the walk.

Find out more:  https://www.lynnhavenrivernow.org/events/guided-bug-walk/

Come with your your defenses down and your eyes ready to see small things beyond the leaves and flowers. Insects sting primarily when they are defending their nests and young, not when they are feasting on the likes of what grows in this insect paradise.

Maurice and VB Middle students established the garden well over a decade ago with help with from the Butterfly Society of Virginia. Though Maurice has retired from teaching, the garden continues on with his dedication and that of volunteers.

Though it’s called a butterfly garden, it’s so much more. When I first visited many years ago, a stand of mountain mint with its subtle green blooms, so unlike what you would expect of a colorful butterfly plant, stood out. The mint was covered with not only butterflies, but also bees, wasps, flies and more.

This was early in the days of focusing on plants for pollinators and I hadn’t see mountain mint in action. You can believe me, I got some for my yard and it never fails to live up to its promise.

And that’s the way it’s always been at the Butterfly Garden. I rarely visit that I don’t pick up on some new insect or way of life in the insect world that I had not known.

I’m looking forward to the Bug Walk with Maurice because I know his eagle eyes will offer more special insight into this world, as he did that special day when we saw the cecropia moth.