The Lunenburg Public Library isn’t just a place for readers and a gathering spot for people—it’s also a community center for hundreds of fascinating, non-human visitors! Take a closer look… You never know who you might meet!
This Week’s Visitor
Orange sulphur (Colias eurytheme)
Check out the late-season buffet! When summer begins to fade and many flowers have finished blooming, asters and goldenrods provide an important source of nectar for butterflies, bees, flies and other insects, including the brightly-colored orange sulphur butterfly.
There are several aster varieties in the library’s front gardens that give it nourishment, including stiff aster, smooth aster, New England aster and calico aster.
Orange sulfur butterfly on Aster
Photo Credit: Gennifer Belt Bousquet
Library Status: Summer and fall visitor
Favorite Section: Flower gardens, meadows, and other open, sunny places
Checks Out: Nectar for energy, including asters, goldenrods and milkweeds
Superpower: Pollination! This beauty can find flowers across a wide landscape and help pollinate them as it moves from bloom to bloom.
Borrowed Knowledge: Orange sulphur caterpillars eat plants in the pea family, including clover and vetches. Adult females lay their eggs one at a time on host plants, where the caterpillars hatch and begin feeding, mainly at night.
Who Else Is Visiting the LPL?
The gardens surrounding the library provide food, shelter and nesting opportunities for native bees, moths, butterflies, beetles, flies, wasps, birds and many other wildlife throughout the year.
When you visit, imagine the remarkable story unfolding around you. Native plants and wildlife have evolved together over thousands of years, forming relationships that help each other survive. Every flower, leaf, seed, and visiting creature is part of that story. Together, they keep our local ecosystems healthy.
How to Explore the Gardens
You can get quite close to many of the flowers if you walk on the sidewalk, children’s path, and gravel walkways between the gardens and building.
As you explore:
- Look closely at flowers and leaves before moving on. Do you spot a visitor?
- Are there clues that someone has been there? Maybe the edge of a leaf has been nibbled or a leafcutter bee has cut a perfect round circle out of a smooth leaf.
- Notice which insects prefer which plants. Are some plants “busier” than others?
- Listen for buzzing and watch for movement and flashes of color.
- Take pictures and share what you discover with library staff!
Nature rewards patience. Some of our visitors are shy, so you may have to sit quietly for a few minutes—or even return another day—to meet them.
You may also want to try visiting at different times of day to discover even more. Some creatures are early risers, while others may not become active until later in the day or at night.
