laPALMa HABITAT GARDEN

In the summer of 2025, Julie Lapalme set out to improve her identification skills by learning how to use iNaturalist. She started from her own backyard, a 200 sq.m. space that she had designed as a habitat garden with a small potager. Her goal over the years had been to rewild her yard by shrinking the lawn, establishing native plant communities from seed, and planting fruit trees and shrubs with additional log piles to create habitat. Julie created a project in iNaturalist and then she simply spent that summer living at a slower pace so that she could fully observe the activity in her garden. That experience turned out to be eye-opening as she discovered the various plant-insect relationships in her garden that make up an intricate ecological web.

Native Bees   Hover Flies   Butterflies   Moths

BUTTERFLIES

Monarch (Danaus Plexippus) observed on Red Clover (Trifolium pratense). (iNaturalist)

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) observed on Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum). (iNaturalist)

Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) observed on Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa). (iNaturalist)

Eastern Giant Swallowtail (Heraclides cresphontes) observed on Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa). (iNaturalist)

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) observed on Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum). (iNaturalist)

Hickory Hairstreak (Satyrium caryaevorus) observed on Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). (iNaturalist)

Monarch (Danaus Plexippus) observed on Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). (iNaturalist)