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More than just pretty to look at, monarch butterflies are crucial to many local ecosystems. In an effort to protect the monarch butterfly, which was added to the endangered species list in 2022, Hagan Ace Hardware has added butterfly habitats to each of its 11 locations in northeast Florida.
The Hagan Ace Hardware Butterfly Habitats are a pro-pollination labor of love from garden center director Lisa Harrison, says Tera Lageman, director of advertising and marketing.
“Lisa is a master gardener with decades of experience dishing the dirt on everything from landscaping, container gardens, veggies for every season and more,” Hageman says. “Her passion for plants and pollinators combined comes to life at each of our Hagan Ace Hardware garden center locations with our butterfly habitats.”
Each habitat is surrounded with pollinator plants, and inside customers find a cozy haven of milkweed where caterpillars make their transition into beautiful butterflies. The caterpillars come on milkweed plants from suppliers and from customers and children in the community who place them in the habitat and then come back when it’s time to release them into the wild.
“Lisa and her team of garden shop managers are all extremely well versed on how customers can build their own habitat and pollinator garden at home but they can learn first from our habitats,” Hageman says.
Since starting the program in 2020, Hagan Ace has raised and released thousands of butterflies in the habitats, mostly monarchs. Hageman says it’s wonderful to see a customer come into the garden center, see the butterfly habitat and then get excited about carrying on the pro-pollination movement in their own backyard.
“It’s not uncommon to see someone with a pallet of plants after just one visit,” Hageman says. “This program is very important for us in each of the communities we serve at Hagan Ace Hardware because pollinators provide an invaluable service for our local ecosystems to thrive. We love knowing we can be a small part in that.”
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