Jefferson City garden added to nationwide butterfly trail

Tizer Botanic Gardens and Arboretum in Jefferson City recently was the first garden in Montana to be added to the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail.

The trail program, based in Plains, Georgia, was inspired by the former first lady to help increase habitat for monarch butterflies.

“We grow a lot of butterfly attractor plants,” Tizer’s Richard Krott said by Facebook Messenger. “A monarch butterfly [in particular] must have a variety of milkweed in order to survive. They lay their tiny eggs on the underneath side of the leaf. The larva hatches and only can survive by eating the milk-rich leaves.”