The Tellico Village Garden Club hosted a butterfly release Thursday in honor of its first president, Margret Muller.
The release was in celebration of Muller’s 96th birthday, dedicating their new, freshly bloomed garden with a sign designed by Dave Brunson of the Tellico Village Woodworkers Club.
Cae Daly, president of the TVGC, coordinated the event with Tim Pyles, TVGC program chair, after Pyles spearheaded the garden planting project last fall.
The 10-foot by 10-foot garden lies alongside the walking path near the Wellness Center in Tellico Village, overflowing with milkweed and other plants that create a thriving environment for monarch butterflies.
“As Tim used to say, ‘You know, we’re growing weeds?’ And that’s basically what the butterflies need, what we consider weeds,” Daly said.
When TVGC decided it wanted to honor Muller with a birthday celebration, Daly thought the celebration and the garden dedication would go hand-in-hand.
“This spring, I said, ‘I think we ought to have a butterfly release,’ hoping that the garden would grow and be beautiful. And it has grown! So I asked some woodworkers if they could make a sign so people would know what it was, and now we’re (dedicating) the sign as well as (honoring Margret) with a release of butterflies,” Daly said. “It’s a special program.”
While the garden was crafted in hopes to attract the monarch butterfly, the club released a breed of butterfly known as the Painted Lady, as opposed to the monarch butterfly.
“They were offered (to us for the release), but they do resemble monarchs,” Daly said.
Pyles was inspired to initiate the planting of the garden along the trail last fall because he thought it would be a nice spot to share the garden with the community.
“Well, I think primarily it was the idea that (we were) getting seeds and we were going to be planting them throughout our community,” Pyles said. “But (I thought) it would be nice to have some place where the whole community would be able to see the results. The natural tendency would be (to plant them) along this trail, because a lot of people use this trail.”
Reminiscing of times past, Muller said her time serving as the club’s first president was certainly enjoyable.
“I definitely learned things from being president,” Muller said. “I enjoyed being the president that year, although (I’m not) ordinarily a good public speaker. But it was certainly an enjoyable job. I felt like I was learning, and the garden club was learning too.”
Muller also mentioned one of her favorite memories while serving as the TVGC president.
“I think (my favorite project) was (when we planted) the garden spaces that decorate the entrance to Tellico Village,” she said. “We did quite a bit, and we even planted some trees. There was a dogwood tree there too that I think they even gave me as a gift for being president that year.”
Pyles was pleased with the ceremony.
“I think it was a fun idea,” Pyles said. “It’s a way of honoring (Margret), and also recognizing the garden. I’m sure we had people here today that have never been to the garden, so that was good.”
