Mèmèngwe

Mèmèngwe is the Anishinaabe word for butterfly. This garden sits on unceded and unsurrendered Anishinaabe land.

This name was selected in collaboration with the Hendrick Foundation Truth and Reconciliation Committee.

Did you know that the monarch’s migratory pattern is the most highly evolved of any known species of their kind? They fly up to 2,500 miles from North America to their hibernation grounds in the forests in central Mexico.

Each fall, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies migrate from Canada and the United States to mountains in central Mexico. This migration, one of the world’s natural wonders, is threatened by loss of habitat and breeding areas. Monarch butterflies are pollinators. They help move pollen from one plant to another, making it possible for plants to produce food to feed people and wildlife. Habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change are contributing factors to the decline of the monarchs. Creating and maintaining a Monarch Way Station is one way we can restore and enhance habitats for monarchs and other pollinators, and act to protect biodiversity.

Monarch Waystations provide host and nectar plants to support the life cycles of monarch butterflies and other pollinators and provide the resources necessary for monarchs to produce successive generations and sustain their migration. Monarchs typically live 2-6 weeks, but the fourth generation, which migrates south each fall, lives 8 to 9 months. Each year, the migration process takes four generations of butterflies to complete the entire circuit in both directions.

This waystation contains several annual, biennial and perennial plants that provide the nectar needed throughout their breeding season and their long migration. Preference has been given to native plants which support long-evolved relationships between plants, animals, climate, and geological features of this region. Its design ensures shelter from wind and sun exposure and includes flat rocks, sand, and a drinking pool—elements that sustain Monarch butterflies and other pollinators.

Click below for a list of plants and pollinators that can be found in the Mèmèngwe Waystation.

This project is made possible with help from the Municipality of Chelsea’s Fonds vert.