Butterfly symposium lands at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall

Gilbert Daigneau, who has raised butterflies for 60 years, calls them “the ambassadors of the natural world.” 

“If you don't see butterflies in an area, it's probably because there are a lot of pesticides in that area or there's not enough native vegetation for the caterpillars,” Daigneau said. “If you see butterflies, that represents a healthy environment.”

Daigneau is the featured speaker for the Lakewood Ranch Garden Club Butterfly Symposium Feb. 7 at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall. 

Courtesy image

His interest in butterflies began when he was in fifth grade and he began teaching his fellow classmates about their life cycles. He has been teaching the public about them ever since, speaking at different events.

Over the years, he has seen an “incredible reduction” in the number of wild butterflies in the world, and in Florida, due to a lot of their native habitat being cleared for housing developments, shopping malls, and roads. 

Daigneau’s goal is to let the public know that it doesn’t take much to help wild butterflies. If you grow plants such as milkweed or pentas, the butterflies will come. Daigneau said the evolution of the butterfly in stages includes four days as an egg, 18 days as a caterpillar, seven days as chrysalis, and then life as a butterfly.

“You're probably going to landscape your yard anyway,” Daigneau said. “Why not landscape with pretty plants that attract butterflies? It's no question to me.” 

Joyce Samsel, who has raised butterflies for 15 years, also is speaking at the symposium. She began her butterfly journey by accident after unknowingly planting tropical milkweed in her garden. 

“One day I noticed the plants had all been eaten and I saw big fat worms on them,” Samsel said. “I researched the worm and discovered they were monarch caterpillars, thus the start of creating an entire backyard for the many species of Florida butterflies.”

Samsel went on to volunteer and work at The Butterfly Estates in Fort Myers. She has done research on the monarch butterfly with the University of Florida and also founded the Florida Monarch Research and Educational Project in 2019. She has since mastered raising 12 species.

Cathleen Strong is the chairman of the newly formed butterfly committee of the Lakewood Ranch Garden Club. She brought in both speakers for the event.

“She (Samsel) puts the butterflies under the microscope, quite literally. She's a scientist,” Strong said. “To have her be able to come in and put the icing on the cake for the end of that program is going to be interesting.”

“I'm looking forward to learning from the other speakers and their experiences and sharing my knowledge of the monarch, its host plants and how everyone can do their part for nature,” Samsel said.

“The attraction to them never waivers,” Daigneau said. “For any generation of people, they are always amazing. When kids won't pay attention to anything else, they stop in their tracks to listen to anything that has to do with butterflies.”