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<p>For Alison Flanagan of Hanover Township, Nescopeck State Park has been a place to learn to kayak.</p><p>And, to set out on an eagle-spotting expedition.</p><p>And, to attend a program about acid-mine drainage.</p><p>&#8220;I enjoy so many things about this park, and so many of them are free,&#8221; she said early Wednesday as she helped weed the Butterfly Garden. &#8220;This is a way to give something back.&#8221;</p><p>Flanagan was one of about half a dozen volunteers who expect to come to the park every other Wednesday through the summer to help environmental education specialist Megan Fedor maintain the Butterfly Garden, located a stone&#8217;s throw from the park office.</p><p>&#8220;This is good; this is good,&#8221; Fedor said, showing volunteer Betty Thornton, of Drums, some slender green plants she liked to see in the garden.</p><p>&#8220;This is goldenrod,&#8221; Fedor said, pointing to a third plant she wanted the volunteer to pull.</p><p>The problem with goldenrod, Fedor said, is that it tends to &#8220;take over.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We want to have more diversity here,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to put in cone flowers, some asters, bee balm and wild bergamot.&#8221;</p><p>Along with the honeysuckle, milkweed, turtlehead flowers and spicebush already growing in the garden, the additional plants will help attract and nourish pollinators, like butterflies, that serve an important role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem.</p><p>While the Butterfly Garden is designed to welcome monarchs and swallowtails, bees and hummingbirds, it&#8217;s also designed to welcome another group of visitors &#8212; children.</p><p>&#8221;Kids spend too much time indoors today,&#8221; Fedor said. &#8220;This is a safe place where they can run free.&#8221;</p><p>While families might visit the park any day between sunrise and sunset, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. June 21 has been especially designated as a &#8220;play day&#8221; where children are invited to come to the Butterfly Garden and play outdoors together.</p><p>Various stations in the garden include a place where sticks have been set aside for kids to build things; a wall of items they can use to make music and even a place where they can use water from a rain barrel to make mud pies.</p><p>A garden ornament that resembles a large caterpillar marks a spot where milkweed is growing, and you can almost consider that the nursery, because it&#8217;s a place where butterflies are likely to lay their eggs.</p><p>By late July or early August, Fedor said, park visitors might be able to spot eggs on the milkweed plant or perhaps see some butterfly caterpillars munching the milkweed leaves. Then each caterpillar will form a chrysalis, do some more growing inside that protective covering, and eventually emerge as a butterfly.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s so cool,&#8221; said volunteer Linda Molitoris, of Mountain Top, who remembers watching the caterpillar-to-butterfly process when she was a child.</p><p>She&#8217;s retired now, after a career analyzing soil and water samples in a laboratory.</p><p>&#8220;I was a natural science major, so this is a natural for me, &#8221; she said, glancing around the garden.</p><p>&#8220;I love this park,&#8221; Molitoris added. &#8220;I walk this park a lot.&#8221;</p><p>Volunteer Jim Mullen, also of Mountain Top, said he &#8220;fell in love with this place&#8221; when he first encountered it decades ago.</p><p>&#8220;After our kids were born, in the 1980s, I would bring them up here all the time to explore the trails,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Trail exploration can be done in every season. In winter, for example, Thornton enjoys cross-country skiing at Nescopeck. But it&#8217;s not simply affection for the park that motivated her to become a garden volunteer.</p><p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t garden where I live because the deer eat everything,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I&#8217;m relegated to a few flower pots on a second-story porch. So I can be a gardener here.&#8221;</p><p>The next Butterfly Garden work session is set for 9 a.m. June 19 at the park, Fedor said. Additional volunteers are welcome.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Environmental education specialist Megan Fedor, of White Haven, weeds the butterfly garden between the false blue indigo flowers &#8212; which are good for pollinators &#8212; on Wednesday morning at Nescopeck State Park. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Environmental education specialist Megan Fedor, of White Haven, weeds the butterfly garden between the false blue indigo flowers &#8212; which are good for pollinators &#8212; on Wednesday morning at Nescopeck State Park. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Linda Molitoris, of Mountain Top, left, and Alison Flanagan, of Hanover Township, remove weeds from the butterfly garden at Nescopeck State Park on Wednesday. They said they enjoy many activities, from hiking to kayaking, at the park. &#8216;This is a way to give something back,&#8217; Flanagan said of the volunteer work. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Linda Molitoris, of Mountain Top, left, and Alison Flanagan, of Hanover Township, remove weeds from the butterfly garden at Nescopeck State Park on Wednesday. They said they enjoy many activities, from hiking to kayaking, at the park. &#8216;This is a way to give something back,&#8217; Flanagan said of the volunteer work. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Betty Thornton, of Drums, digs out weeks with other volunteers at the Nescopeck State Park butterfly garden on Wednesday. The next Butterfly Garden work session is set for 9 a.m. June 19 at the park, located off Honey Hole Road in Drums. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Betty Thornton, of Drums, digs out weeks with other volunteers at the Nescopeck State Park butterfly garden on Wednesday. The next Butterfly Garden work session is set for 9 a.m. June 19 at the park, located off Honey Hole Road in Drums. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Volunteer Jim Mullen, of Mountain Top, said he &#8216;fell in love with&#8217; Nescopeck State Park decades ago. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Volunteer Jim Mullen, of Mountain Top, said he &#8216;fell in love with&#8217; Nescopeck State Park decades ago. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden5.jpg</photo4><caption4></caption4><photoCredit4>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_garden6.jpg</photo5><caption5></caption5><photoCredit5>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Volunteers spruce upButterfly Garden