126 Baptist Road, Canterbury, New Hampshire 03224, United States
All About Monarchs
12th Annual NH Monarch Festival - Aug 24-25 & Sept 7-8
The news about Monarch Butterflies this year continues to be extremely discouraging--but the 12th Annual NH Monarch Festival will provide hands-on tools and expert advice on how families can sustain and improve habitat for migrating Monarchs and other vital pollinators, all while giving kids fun ways to celebrate and learn about these amazing creatures.
In spite of more 25 years of efforts across the U.S. by citizen scientists and communities to provide more milkweed habitat for their annual migration, the monarch butterfly population is not "out of the woods" yet. The bad news is that the total forest area occupied by Monarchs overwintering in Mexico decreased by 59% from last year, to the second lowest level ever recorded. For perspective, 3 times the entire 2024 starting population could fit within Petals in the Pines' 7.5 acres--with room to spare. The NH Monarch Festival, held annually at Petals in the Pines in Canterbury since 2013, focuses on increasing public awareness of the Monarch’s plight, and ways to help them.
Monarch Festival format:
For the first 10 years, the Festival was held for 7 hours on a single day, and crowds of visitors had to jockey for parking spaces (often lining Baptist Road with cars for quite a distance!) Last year we decided to change to a spread-out schedule, with 2-hour visit slots (pre-registration required) over two weekends. This provided a more focused experience, with ample parking, new activities (including learning about the plight of all pollinators--not just butterflies), and opportunity to enjoy "free time" exploring all that Petals in the Pines has to offer. It was a great success!!
The Festival is a 2 hour event (Reservations REQUIRED--see button below: Adults $7; Kids $3.50; infants (non-walkers) are free. Kids must be accompanied by an adult.) Each session will begin with presentations to all guests :
- All About Monarchs - Learn about the Monarch life-cycle, migration, and tagging. We'll have tagging demonstrations featuring newly-emerged butterflies (IF we have any) in our monarch rearing tent.
- Monarch Migration Lesson - for kids (audience participation, on our "Gathering Rock")
- Amira Kel Provost - Citizen Scientist - This is her 5th season of rearing Monarchs, collecting data on them, and educating others on the importance of milkweed ecosystems, pollinator habitats, and the Monarch lifecycle. She will show Monarchs in various stages of development, give demonstrations on how to test and tag butterflies, and provide important information about Monarch research.
- Milkweed - how to grow it and other plants the monarchs need.
- Story Time - kids gathering to hear readings of butterfly-themed books. See more details below.
Every family will receive a gift bag with milkweed seeds and planting instructions, coupons to Tanglewood Hollow, Monarch book author contacts, pollinator seeds, info on where to buy native plants, and much more! You'll have the tools and resources you need to help the monarchs and pollinators.
Options for "free time":
- Pollinator Meadow - Explore at your own pace, or take a guided tour along the paths to observe pollinators at work and find native milkweeds and fall nectar plants growing here. See how native trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses can do vital work of feeding pollinators, managing water, and sequestering carbon--and look beautiful at the same time. Petals in the Pines is one of 365 locations (up from 122 a year ago) in NH that are part of the Homegrown National Park project--a grassroots movement started by professor and author Doug Tallamy to regenerate natural diversity (homegrownnationalpark.org)
- Monarch Festival Photo Booth - Wear your wings, or borrow ours. Lots of props and signs to use in front of our giant inflatable monarch.
- Games for kids - the Metamorphosis Relay and Migration Frisbee Game. Adults can play too!!
- "Tale Trail" - Read the pages of "Fly, Butterfly". Look for monarchs and all the other pollinators along the way!!
- "Ask A Master Gardener" Booth - Bring your gardening questions or check out all the information about gardening and planting for pollinators.
- Pick-Your-Own Flowers - Over 100 varieties of annual and perennial flowers grow in our PYO field. Design your own take-home arrangement (priced by size of bouquet--vases are free!)
- Our Farm Stand Porch Shop - "Monarch wing" pattern Leaf Stone Bird Baths, botanical hand-dyed Silk Scarves, and products from Hazel Moon Botanicals, and John Polizzi's gorgeous photo cards.
- Take a Hike - Walk our two brookside labyrinths, stroll through the gardens, or hike 2 miles of woodland trails.
DATES & TIMES:
- Saturdays, Aug. 24 [SOLD OUT] & Sep. 7 - 1:15-3:30 [SOLD OUT]
- Sundays, Aug. 25 [SOLD OUT] & Sep. 8 - 1:15-3:30 [SOLD OUT]
COST:
- Adults $7; Kids $3.50; infants (non-walkers) free.
- Kids must be accompanied by an adult
- Neither physical nor e-tickets will be issued (but you will receive a confirmation). Please sign-in with Donna or Jim upon arrival.
IMPORTANT NOTES FOR VISITORS:
- Trail hiking is best in closed-toed shoes (roots/rocks; may be slippery)
- Kids (and adults) who wish to wear butterfly wings/costumes are encouraged to do so!
- NO pets, please!
- The Festival will be held RAIN OR SHINE. In the event of downpours or thunderstorms during your time slot, that session will be cancelled, and your money will be refunded. A cancellation decision and email notification will be made 2 hours prior to start time.
SCROLL DOWN FOR A LIST OF RESOURCES
Monarch Presentation for Organizations & Clubs
Do you belong to a club or organization that is looking for a speaker? We have an hour-long Monarch power point presentation that has been enjoyed by garden clubs, women's groups and libraries. Filled with beautiful photos taken here at our gardens, you'll learn about the life-cycle of the Monarch, their amazing migration to Mexico, what they need to survive, and how you can help.
Donna has been a citizen scientist for Monarch Watch since 2008, tagging Monarchs annually before their fall migration. She weaves in interesting stories from her experience with these amazing creatures over the years.
Help Us Help the Monarchs!
Your generous contribution enables us to fulfill our educational mission, and supports like-minded organizations.
Monarch Festival Links
Activities for Kids
Scroll down the left column on their page. Check out For Kids and Education. There are activities and educational information here for kids of all ages. If you want to get involved helping the monarchs click on Citizen Science.
So many great resources here! This link takes you to the "Spring" page. At the top you can click on Fall or Winter for so much more!!
This is something that should be done with the supervision of a parent or adult. Keeping the cage/net cleaned daily is very important. Please do your research before committing to this.
Monarch Life Cycle Beaded Bracelet
Watch as these kids assemble a bracelet with beads that represent the life cycle of monarchs. Kits are available on our Farm Stand Porch Shop for $2.00 each, while supplies last.
Books for Kids:
Fly, Butterfly by Bonnie Bader
Are You a Butterfly? by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries
Milkweed Visitors by Mary Holland
Growing Milkweed & Meadows
How to Cold Stratify and Germinate Milkweed Seed
This is for starting seeds indoors. The easy way to plant milkweed seed is to plant it outside in your garden just before the ground freezes, around late October.
Wildflower Meadows - Plant Selection & Establishment
This is local information from research at UNH with plant lists for NH gardens. Once you get to this page there are several more links on related subjects. Good stuff!
Pollinator Pathways Plant Lists
This is a great resource! A one-stop shop for several plant lists from many reputable organizations.
Instructions on how to create a Monarch Way Station. Make sure to register it too!
Create a Schoolyard Butterfly Habitat
Many schools are creating butterfly gardens. Here is a great resource to get started!
Where to buy Native Plants in NH
Bagley Pond Perennials, Warner
Found Well Farm, Pembroke
They will be open Sept. 19 & 20 only, from 9-5 each day. I might see you there!!
Pemi Native Plants, Plymouth
Email them at peminativeplants@gmail.com
I've purchase plants from all 3 of these growers. You can't wrong with any of them.
Monarch and Pollinator Organizations
There are many organizations out there doing good work to help the monarch, pollinators and that promote the use of native plants. Here are a few of them.
Monarch Watch Monarch Watch - Tagging
UNH Cooperative Extension Courses
I've taken both of these classes and I highly recommend them. The fall courses have already begun but you can follow the links below to learn more about each.
Book List
Doug Tallamy Books
Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy
Nature's Best Hope powerpoint by Doug Tallamy on You Tube
The Living Landscape by Rick Darke and Douglas Tallamy
Monarchs & Butterflies
The Monarch, Saving our Most-Loved Butterfly by Kylee Baumle
Butterfly Book by Donald & Lillian Stokes & Ernest Williams
Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner
Gardening and Landscaping
Gardening for Butterflies by the Xerces Society
Attracting Native Pollinators by the Xerces Society
The Green Garden by Ellen Sousa
Native Plants of the Northeast by Donald J. Leopold
Native Plants for New England Gardens by Mark Richardson and Dan Jaffe
Integrated Landscaping: Following Nature's Lead, UNH Cooperative Extension