Please click here on March 25th shortly before 6:30 pm to join the event. 

Gardening for Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths!)
The program will show the diversity of the butterflies and moths one can attract to their home landscape in the Twin Cities including the host plants for their caterpillars and nectar plants/food sources for the adults. You will learn about gardening techniques that provide garden habitat for butterflies and moths as many have unique strategies for overwintering. Also learn about butterfly and moth population status and other impacts to them including misuse of pesticides.

Alan J. Branhagen is Director of Operations at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. For over 20 years he was Director of Horticulture at Powell Gardens, Kansas City’s Botanical Garden and prior to that he had a nearly decade-long duty as Deputy Director of Resource Development for the Winnebago County Forest Preserve District in Rockford, Illinois. Alan Branhagen received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University and a Master of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University with emphasis on design with nature. He wrote The Gardener’s Butterfly Book in 2001 and in November 2016, Timber Press published his book Native Plants of the Midwest. The Midwest Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-friendly Garden was released in July, 2020. Beyond public garden management, Mr. Branhagen is an all-around plantsman and naturalist specializing in birds, butterflies and botany. He is in process of creating a new natural garden on 2.4 acres overlooking the Minnesota River Valley in Chaska, Minnesota.