Summer 1, 2, 3, 4

DSCF4451Lessons & Reflections from the National Butterfly Center

Ah, what a wonderful break we're having from the heat!  With temperatures in the 40's, the Rio Grande Valley is actually experiencing winter this year.  It's good for our plants, but the butterflies (and visitors) have been blown away by the cold, blustery winds. The bright spot: those same winds bring our Winter Texans home to roost, for the season.

Bill, one of our Winter Texan volunteers, refers to the seasons in South Texas as Summer 1, Summer 2, Summer 3, and Summer 4. It's funny, but most of all it's true—and similar to the local version: Hot, Hotter, Heaven Help Us!, and Hot.

Bill, and his wife Lena, are hardly thrilled with this year's Summer 1. After all, they came for the warmth, not the cold! They volunteer in our Nursery, and this drizzle-and-chill is interfering with their time outdoors, doing what they enjoy most. Both are self-proclaimed plant people—not butterfly people (but we welcome them anyway).

Like butterflies, they travel north in the spring and south in the fall, overwintering on the Tropical Trail. Throughout the year, they flit about the country, ranging widely from South Dakota to South Texas, propagating plants everywhere they go. When they are here, they grow for us, weeding, clipping and transplanting; and when they are gone, they grow for us, returning with new shoots, seeds and blooms.

“I can't remember a time when I didn't have a green thumb,” states Lena, whose gift for growing is greatly appreciated. We especially love that they are great advocates, GROWING CONNECTIONS, everywhere, all the time. Mostly, we are grateful to have their hands and hearts committed to our grounds and gardens.

Come Summer 2, Bill and Lena will take flight because springtime hearlds Summer 3, and well, I am told Garrison Keillor quips, “If you spend a summer in Texas, you believe in an angry God.”

I am not sure about that; but the abundance of butterflies in Summer 4 is surely a special gift, and a glorious reminder that to everything there is a season.

 
 

We are grateful for the support of:

City-of-Mission-Color-Logo bentsen-palm

Inside the National Butterfly Center

Hours of Operation

Open 7 Days a Week 
8:00 - 5:00
364 Days / Year

Closed Easter Sunday

Come See Us

National Butterfly Center
3333 Butterfly Park Drive
Mission, TX 78572
956-583-5400
GPS Coordinates:
26.180243 -98.364973

You are here: Home Media NBC Blog Summer 1, 2, 3, 4