SPRING CREEK NATURE PARK & BUTTERFLY GARDEN

Location: Traveling on Pelican's Nest Drive or Goldcrest, turn west at the south entrance to Pelican's Nest Golf Club by Coventry (look for the Monarch butterflies on the signs); then turn right into the Pelican's Nest parking lot (if walking or biking, follow the same road to the dark brown pavers pathway coming out of the parking lot), then take the pathway through the practice area (sand trap and pitching green) until you see the butterfly garden entrance sign and pergola. You have now arrived at Spring Creek Nature Park & Butterfly Garden. Click HERE to view map.

Hours: Anytime is a good time to experience nature. The best time to see butterflies is anytime it is light, when the temperature is over 70 degrees F and it's not too windy.

Subcommittee Info: Click HERE.

Founding Donors & Volunteers List: Click HERE.

Other Butterfly and Native Plant Websites:
North American Butterfly Association: www.naba.org
Monarch Watch: www.monarchwatch.org
Florida Native Plant Society: www.fnps.org
Lee County Extension Service: lee.ifas.ufl.edu
The Crooked Garden at Pelican Preserve: www.crookedgarden.com




Welcome To Your Butterfly Garden

Spring Creek Nature Park & Butterfly Garden is a serene place to relax, enjoy and learn about the marvels of nature, a myriad of butterfly species, birds and native and wild plants. It is 'a place to meditate, celebrate, educate and dedicate' oneself to the joys and awe of nature right here in Pelican Landing.

The park is a unique combination of three different eco-zones that make up an eco-tone. The three zones are the mangroves, the meadow area and a pine stand all compressed into less than half an acre. This provides an opportunity to attract more butterflies, see more diverse plant varieties and wildlife and experience a truly native environment. Tucked next to Spring Creek by the marina and fishing docks the park provides a wonderful location to view water birds, jumping mullet, turtles an occasional alligator and beautiful sunsets.


Protecting Butterflies, Birds and Native Plants

There are approximately 150 species of butterflies in Florida--105 in Southern Florida and 79 in Southwest Florida. Some are diminishing in number because of the expanded roadwork and real estate development that has destroyed their native habitat. Our goal is two-fold--preserve what habitat we can and encourage the propagation and appreciation of these beautiful 'flying flowers' and other fauna indigenous to the area. Our goal to attract butterflies is bearing fruit. Twenty (20) butterfly species have been identified to date: Monarch, Gulf Fritillary, Cloudless Sulfur, Yellow Sulfur, Barred Yellow, Mangrove Skipper, Polydamas, Zebra Longwing/Heliconian, White Peacock, Black Swallowtail, Giant Swallowtail, Great Southern White, Miami Blue, Queen, Orange-Barred Sulphur, Mangrove Buckeye, Fiery Skipper, Long-Tailed Skipper and Florida Checkered Skipper. This prolific and varied butterfly population count was achieved by planting some fifteen different species of host plants (those that only a specific butterfly species will lay their eggs on); and then adding a mix of thirty-five different nectar plants (these are the colorful blooming plants that initially attract the adult butterflies and provide food for their flight and mating appetites); all together, close to 300 plants were added to the area. Of this number, only three species were non-native due to their hosting necessity--Dutchman's Pipevine (Polydamas), Scarlet Milkweed (Monarch and Queen) and Pentas (Gulf Fritillary and others).


Education & Weekly Garden Gathering

Every Wednesday @ 10am--The Weekly Garden Gathering with fellow enthusiasts, master naturalists and master gardeners allows everyone a chance to learn more about our native plants and the 'flying flowers' they attract.

Adding a docent program with trained volunteers, who will give garden tours, is another priority. They will be in the garden on a specific day & time conducting special programs on native plants, butterflies and the metamorphosis process.

This website will provide an ongoing dialog between our gardeners and you. Articles, journals and information on butterfly sightings and other activity in the garden will provide a native newspaper of sorts. 'Read all about it' under Garden Talk.

And 'see it for yourself' in the Photo Albums.


Satellite Program

We are a knowledge, financial and volunteer-based amenity that can assist in adding native and butterfly plants to other amenities in Pelican Landing (e.g., Canoe Park, Beach Park, Children's Park and Community Park) or help identify plants currently in place. We can also assist residents in developing their own home-based gardens.


Volunteers Needed

The garden you see and enjoy was built and is maintained by volunteers with the help of the CDD. It was paid for with the dollars donated by Pelican Landing residents. Volunteers are the back bone of our amenity. The 'Weekly Garden Gatherings' are when we tend our garden, discuss new ideas, learn about the plants and butterflies and share in good fellowship. To date, we have over 50 volunteers registered, and 33 have been active. If you would like to learn more about volunteering, click HERE.

One day we received a call from one of our volunteers. They couldn't believe their eyes. They counted thirty-two Polydamas caterpillars covering the Dutchman's Pipevine on the main entrance pergola--a virtual prickly black and orange army of eating machines. The vines were just starting to cover the pergola, a few days later it was bare, there wasn't a leaf left on the two climbing vines. But not long after a squadron of black and yellow chevroned Polydamas butterflies emerged and circled the garden, sipping nectar from the flowers and looking for mates to start the cycle all over again.

The special pond and waterfall--designed and built by volunteer Dan Ricks and his crew--is a great place to sit and relax. Surrounded in back by green hedges of purple flowered Porter Weed, it is both soothing and full of life. Tadpoles and frogs have made it their home thanks to the many birds that have stopped by to make a deposit. The pond's waterfall, day blooming lilies and other plants help to filter the water and suppress algae growth. We expect that native fish will be swimming there any day now and we think the nocturnal action must be pretty exciting too--raccoons, bobcats, owls, deer, baby alligators and moths are some of the possibilities.


Butterfly Booster Program

Designed to initially fund the building of the garden, residents donated over $11,000 to make the dream come true. There are still several projects left to complete. If you would like to keep our garden 'going & growing,' you can still make a contribution. See the Butterfly Booster flier for more details.


Special Facilities Create Activities for Budding Gardeners & Amateur Lepidopterists

A Planting Station complete with a potting bench allows us to propagate our own plants contributing to a more sustainable garden. The garden's tool storage bin is located there, and there is a bulletin board for current volunteer news and the recording of daily sightings of butterflies and birds. This is all enclosed by two trellises with climbing plants, that help it blend into the landscape and provide more butterfly host and nectar plants.

A Butterfly Nursery nestled under the oak and pine trees on the nature path is a screened in lanai type structure. This is where we raise butterflies. The nursery provides protection from predators so they can't eat or destroy the eggs, caterpillars and chrysalises. It allows viewing of the metamorphosis process and is great fun for our volunteers and visitors alike.


A Community Asset

- The garden provides positive publicity for Pelican Landing via articles with photos in local newspapers--The Banner, Estero Weekender and Fort Myers New Press. Based on e-mails and conversations with visitors at the park there is a real sense of pride in what we have created together through community financial support and volunteerism.

- The garden increases property values. Many other gated communities throughout Florida and our region in particular like Bonita Bay, Pelican Preserve, Copperleaf, Spring Run and others include their butterfly gardens as important amenities that add value and attract buyers.

- The nature park is a laboratory and educational facility that allows residents to acquire knowledge to create and enhance their own native landscape and butterfly gardens. Both of which are sustainable landscape options, because they are drought and disease resistant. Our own volunteers, with periodic assistance from the CDD, will maintain the garden and enjoy a hands-on learning experience.

- Our native garden has a natural look by design and necessity that gives a feeling of being in the wild. Native butterfly gardens treat many weeds and wild flowers as part of the propagation process. They are different from our manicured lawns, formal gardens and parkways for these reasons, and they add a new dimension to the way we view and experience the environment.

- Our garden provides education on the dangers of exotic and intrusive plants that need to be removed in order to preserve the pristine landscape we enjoy.


Enjoy Your Park & Butterfly Garden