SustainFloyd’s new guide helps Floyd County gardeners create butterfly havens
As a local interest in pollinator gardening grows, SustainFloyd believes that Floyd could become a regional example of community-led conservation.
A new illustrated gardening guide, "Butterfly Gardens for Floyd County, VA," is now available for local residents who want to bring more beauty — and more butterflies — to their yards.
Local nonprofit SustainFloyd includes a grassroots effort to restore pollinator habitat by quietly transforming local gardens and yards. Through the work of SustainFloyd and its native plant initiative, Floyd Native Plants, local volunteers are helping residents rethink how they garden — not just for beauty, but for biodiversity.
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Written by Katy Morikawa of Floyd Native Plants and sponsored by SustainFloyd, the 48-page guide is tailored specifically to Floyd County's plants, climate, and butterfly species.
What began as a simple plant list evolved into a detailed beginner-friendly PDF guide after Morikawa realized that successful butterfly gardening required more than just planting flowers. It covers everything a beginner needs to get started: which nectar flowers attract the most butterflies, how to design and prepare a garden bed, how to grow plants from seed, and how to identify the butterflies that will visit. More experienced gardeners will find detailed plant lists, garden design plans, guidance on bioswale construction, and in-depth profiles of species like the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and the Monarch butterfly.
“We started in January 2023,” said Jackie Crenshaw of SustainFloyd. “People from Katy’s group and SustainFloyd grew plants and gave them away at the market — kind of a giveaway-for-donation situation.”
The first major effort from the group, known as “Wildflower Wednesdays,” quickly exceeded expectations. Volunteers grew at least 30 species of native plants, producing an estimated 5,000 seedlings. About 3,000 of those were tray-grown plugs distributed to the public. “That is a lot of plants,” Crenshaw said.
The highly anticipated guide emphasizes native plants — the species that Floyd County's butterflies have co-evolved with for millions of years— and is grounded in local observation data from iNaturalist and the Native Plant Finder database. “I thought it was easy,” Morikawa said. “I gave them my list of wildflowers, and then I realized it was actually a lot more complicated than that unless they were very experienced gardeners.”
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The guide continued to grow until it was ready to become a polished publication to be shared online and now printed by SustainFloyd for distribution at the Floyd Farmers Market on Saturdays.
“Our feeling was that it was really valuable information,” Crenshaw explained. “People who bump into it at the Floyd Saturday Market and pick up a copy — those are the real new customers. They didn’t know they wanted to do this.”
"Floyd County has long been a place of retreat and sanctuary," Morikawa writes in the guide's introduction. "Your home garden can strengthen that sanctuary, creating a haven for butterflies, pollinators, birds, other wildlife, and for yourself, your family, and friends."
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The timing is especially important for Floyd County, which lies along a significant migration corridor for birds and pollinators. Organizers say the region’s connection to the Blue Ridge Parkway makes habitat restoration increasingly urgent.
“The monarch butterfly most dramatically uses this migration route,” Morikawa said. “It’s critically imperiled.”
Although monarch populations remain low, local residents noticed more monarch sightings last year after several seasons of near absence. “It’s fragile. It’s tenuous,” she said. “But monarchs still pass through here.”
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Organizers believe butterfly gardening can also serve as a gateway to broader environmental awareness. Morikawa has noticed that once people begin gardening for butterflies, they often reduce pesticide use as well.
“Something clicks in their brain,” she said. “They realize, ‘Oh, I’m killing the thing that I want to come here.’” Butterflies, she added, are “charismatic species” — creatures whose beauty inspires people to take a deeper interest in ecology and conservation.
That ecological connection extends beyond butterflies themselves. Caterpillars and moth larvae are critical food sources for songbirds raising young in the spring.
“Songbirds need live prey to feed their young,” Morikawa explained. “They can’t feed their babies bird seed from a feeder.” Healthy forests provide host habitat for many moth and butterfly species in Floyd, but adult pollinators still require nectar sources after they emerge from their chrysalis. “If the adults hatch and there’s no nectar, then they can’t reproduce,” she said. “It’s all a continuing circle.”
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The group also hopes to shift public attitudes about less glamorous native plants. One example is stickweed, a plant many gardeners remove at the end of the season without realizing it shelters overwintering butterfly species. “I’m trying to rebrand stickweed,” Morikawa joked.
She explained that some butterflies overwinter in leaf litter near the base of the plant. Pulling it out too early can destroy cocoons and hibernating caterpillars. “If you can bear it, let it stand,” she advised. “If you can’t, wait until it all turns brown, then cut the stems down but leave the leaf litter.”
Looking ahead, SustainFloyd hopes to inspire the creation of community butterfly gardens throughout Floyd County. Plans include beginner-friendly garden designs, educational materials for sun and shade plantings, and volunteer-supported installations.
“We’re hoping to inspire community gardens,” Morikawa said. “And we are hoping to be able to help plant and maintain them.”
The organization is also encouraging seed sharing among local gardeners and continues to seek volunteers for giveaway events and educational outreach.
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As a local interest in pollinator gardening grows, SustainFloyd believes that Floyd could become a regional example of community-led conservation.
SustainFloyd, which sponsored the print edition, noted that populations of pollinators and birds are declining sharply across the region, tied to the loss of the native plants that support them. The organization has partnered with Floyd Native Plants, Partnership for Floyd, Mother's Child Farm, Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary, and Plant Southwest Virginia Natives on a number of native plant projects.
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Morikawa will give a talk about our local butterflies and how to attract them on Saturday, July 11, at 3:30 p.m. at the Jessie Peterman Memorial Library in Floyd. During the event, pick up the new "Butterfly Gardens for Floyd County, VA," and get engaged in the community conversation. Light refreshments.
For more information, contact info@sustainfloyd.org, floydnativeplants@gmail.com, or send a message to @floydnativeplants on Facebook.
