Today I saw a Queen Butterfly fluttering around the dining room patio. It happened to be visiting the ranch’s fledgling butterfly garden, planted by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Earth Ambassadors youth volunteers during the summer of 2015. This fall we added a few more plants from the Desert Museum’s plant sale, and added more rock and mulch to help water linger longer.

Queen butterflies resemble Monarch butterflies. Elkhorn guest Steve Kessel, who lives in Tucson, captured a Queen and Monarch almost side-by-side at Tohono Chul Park. Read his blog post Queen and Monarch to learn more.

“The entire ranch is a butterfly garden,” explains Jerome Miller When you’re riding or hiking at Elkhorn, pay special attention when you’re in the canyon bottoms where you can occasionally see running water or pools. Even when dry, these areas have more moisture and thus more butterflies. And when you’re not on the trail, we hope our evolving butterfly garden brightens your day and reminds you of the importance of pollinator conservation!

Above photograph of a Queen Butterfly by Steve Kessel.