Meet Lois’s baby cousin, Amorphophallus paeoniifolius. It may not be as large or as smelly as the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) that bloomed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 2010, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome! It’s blooming in the Cockrell Butterfly Center right now, and by the end of the weekend, it should be […]
Butterfly gardening is a great thing to do in the fall. Even though most butterflies will be settling down for the winter in the next few months, your garden will be ready with lots of host and nectar plants for next year’s butterflies. To get you started, the Houston Museum of Natural Science is hosting […]
We are sorry to disappoint monarch enthusiasts, but the Cockrell Butterfly Center has decided not to sell tropical milkweed (aka Mexican milkweed, Asclepias curassavica) any more. Instead, we will have a limited quantity of native milkweeds for sale. Recently, biologists studying monarchs have discovered that tropical milkweed may be a factor in the spread of […]
As the obligate host plants for monarch caterpillars, milkweeds are a staple in any butterfly habitat garden. However, milkweed is not just for monarchs! Many other insects call the genus Asclepias home, giving rise to the concept of a “milkweed village.” Milkweed plants produce bitter tasting toxins called cardiac glycocides, and insects that eat milkweeds […]
Fall is coming! Leaves are changing color, temperatures start creeping down, and gardeners will be able to get back outside without the threat of heatstroke. Well, in theory. This is Houston, after all. But despite the fact that it’ll be warm until Thanksgiving, there is something we can look forward to: cooler temps! And you […]
Do you wish you had a butterfly garden? Would you like to attract more of those beautiful creatures to your pre-existing garden? If so, don’t miss our Spring Plant Sale, Saturday, April 6th from 9 a.m. to noon! It takes place on the seventh level of the HMNS parking garage, where we will have a […]
