See how Powell Gardens gets these exotic insects for their Festival of Butterflies

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People from the Kansas City metro have migrated to Powell Gardens for nearly three decades now to walk among exotic butterflies and moths during the gardens’ annual Festival of Butterflies.

The festival is in full swing again and this year visitors can experience the pageant winners of the insect world by stepping into a conservatory teaming with butterflies from all over the world in a variety of sizes, colors and patterns.

These globetrotting butterflies don’t just flutter to Powell Gardens near Kingsville, Missouri, and gather on their own as if it’s a butterfly convention. They are born here, or to be more accurate, they finish their metamorphosis process here.

Throughout the duration of the festival, Powell Gardens gets a steady supply of chrysalises that are shipped from suppliers that have raised the pupae to the point that they are within a few days of emerging as butterflies. Part of the festival experience is that visitors can see the butterflies emerge from their chrysalises in the emergence chamber on display there. The chamber is a large display case with glass that allows people to see a miracle of nature as butterflies emerge from the dozens of chrysalises mounted in the case.

Powell Gardens lead horticulturalist and designer Eric Perrette is in charge of making certain the festival has a steady supply of butterflies.

Perrette says many of the chrysalises come from a supplier in Denver and are within days of emerging when he gets them. To put the chrysalises on display Perrette and other staff attach the butt end of the chrysalises to narrow boards with a small drop of glue from a hot glue gun. After several of the almost-a-butterfly pods have been attached to a board, the board is placed horizontally in the emergence chamber so the chrysalises hang to continue forming as if they were in the wild. Labels are in place so visitors know what type of butterfly they are seeing.

Once a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis Perrette says it takes it less than an hour to form its wings and be ready to fly. The butterfly’s body emerges plump and filled with fluid that is then pumped into its tiny wings. The wings expand and stiffen while the young butterfly remains motionless but not for too long. “In the wild they have to be able to move or their going to get eaten,” Perrette said.

Perrette takes the freshly formed butterflies from the emergence chamber and places them in the conservatory where they will join insects of their kind from places like Asia, Africa and Central America. In the conservatory they can live up to two weeks which Perrette says would be their normal lifespan in the wild.

The festival display is meant to entertain and educate visitors but Perrette says Powell Gardens has to be diligent in making certain that once the non-native butterflies have lived their lives there are no eggs or caterpillars remaining from those species allowed into the wild. He says plants in the display are burned to keep eggs or caterpillars from leaving the conservatory.

Nectar is the food of choice for butterflies so the conservatory is filled with plenty of flowering plants but some of the non-native butterflies like to get their nectar from fresh fruit or rotting fruit so those are also available. Perrette says specific plants that the caterpillar life stage of the non-native butterflies feed on aren’t placed in the display as a way to keep those species from multiplying. Most caterpillars have specific host plants they feed on according to Perrette.

Around 2,000 chrysalises in about 20 different butterfly varieties will be hatched for the festival this year says Perette. He says one of his favorites is the giant owl butterfly with its strategically placed wing spots that look like owl’s eyes. The butterfly is native to Central and South America.

Outside of the conservatory visitors can see native butterfly species in the Garden Galleries or venture down to the basement of the Visitor Center to see exotic moths in the Moth Cave.

The Festival of Butterflies opened on July 18 and continues through Aug. 4. More details on the festival, parking and admission prices can be found on the Powell Gardens website.