The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society’s Sixth Annual Butterfly Festival will be available online beginning Saturday, September 18, a press release said. This year’s Butterfly Festival will again be virtual with outstanding lectures and special video programs for children, the release said.
The festival will go live online at 10 a.m. September 18 and remain available for you to watch at your convenience. You may register to be emailed the links for these free programs at www.utarboretumsociety.org. Registration for this event is required. These programs will be recorded, and closed captioning is available, the press release said.
Co-sponsored by the UT Institute of Agriculture, this event has become one of the most popular events annually with more than 2,000 people attending in 2019. Due to the uncertain nature of COVID-19 precautions, this year’s festival has been filmed in advance to be presented online. “This will be a different festival than in the past as there are no on-site activities, but we are excited to bring the public some great online options,” the press release said.
“To celebrate the spirit of the festival, we invited the public to order and decorate wooden butterflies,” the release said. “These butterflies will be on display throughout the month of September around our Visitors Center. We invite you to enjoy this display whenever you visit the Arboretum during September.”
Special presentations for children will be presented by Jerome Grant and students from the University of Tennessee Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology.
The educational talks for the 2021 UTAS Butterfly Festival are:
- “Of Biodiversity and Butterflies: Planting Design and Conservation for Pollinators” will be presented by Michael Ross. As more productive butterfly habitats are converted to residential, agricultural, and commercial sprawl, the need for well-designed landscapes that support the full lifecycle of Lepidoptera species is increasingly important. This presentation will discuss key considerations, design, and planning goals for successful pollinator habitat implementation. Michael Ross, SITES AP, ASLA, is an assistant professor for the University of Tennessee Department of Plant Sciences’ Sustainable Landscape Design concentration and in the School of Landscape Architecture.
- “Principles of Butterfly Garden Design and Management: A Case Study in Pollinator Habitat Garden Management,” will be presented by Olivia Sievers Ross. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s approach to pollinator habitat provides an enlightening case study into best practices for butterfly garden implementation on a residential site. Prior to her training as a landscape architect, Olivia was the horticulturist and Lepidoptera specialist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s Ann and O.J. Weber Pollinator Garden and helped install the Luci and Ian Family Garden.
The press release said organizers are very grateful to this year’s corporate sponsors: Northshore Pellissippi Storage and Pinnacle Financial Partners.
The Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014, is one of 10 outdoor laboratories located throughout the state as part of the UT AgResearch system. AgResearch is a division of the UT Institute of Agriculture. The Institute of Agriculture also provides instruction, research, and public service through the UT Herbert College of Agriculture, the UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch, and UT Extension offices, with locations in every county in the state.
To learn more about the Arboretum Society, go to www.utarboretumsociety.org. For more information on the program, contact mcampani@utk.edu.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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