SustainFloyd hosted a talk on July 11, 2026 to celebrate the launch of Butterfly Gardens for Floyd County with Floyd Native Plants. Katy Morikawa, butterfly enthusiast and author the guide, gave a presentation and Q&A at the Jessie Peterman Memorial Library in Floyd. Participants learned about local butterflies, the plants that support them, and tips for designing and building a butterfly garden, and picked up a free copy of the guide. A note from Katy:
My vision with this work is to make Floyd a destination and refuge for butterflies, and to inspire butterfly gardens in downtown Floyd and across the county, especially connected to the Blue Ridge Parkway, an important migratory route. To build a network of gardens that could actually host butterfly tours! And as I said during this presentation, when I first got started, I thought butterflies were frivolous – they’re not even very good pollinators, I thought. But I fell in love with them, and understand now that they’re indicator species. That creating a successful butterfly garden by eliminating pesticides, adding natives, removing invasives is a net good for the ecosystem, and that the benefits ripple outward in a cascade of consequences that can help to jump start the process of restoring an ecosystem worn down by overuse. All of the flowers in the guide have become rare in the wild though they’re native and belong here. So you’re helping to restore something that was lost by planting flowers for butterflies. Plus, butterflies are just beautiful, and interesting!
Click the links below to view slides from the presentation, and to download a pdf copy of Butterfly Gardens for Floyd County!