Lamont Street Butterfly Garden, Washington DC

A week after Marta died, it felt like there was nothing better to do with a rainy weekend than plant a garden. Moved by spending a week at Marta’s house while she declined and passed away, and having taken great comfort in the monarch butterflies and caterpillars that bore witness to Marta’s passing, we decided to plant an urban butterfly garden in her honor.

We dug up an underutilized corner of our city yard, did some research on native plants that thrive in part sun and moist conditions, went to Chesapeake Natives to buy some baby native plants, and supplemented our haul of native ecotype plants with some additional native plants from our local Ace hardware store. We laid them out roughly so that the plants that in the future would be the tallest will be in the back, and the shorter plants will be in the front — but we figure that we can move things around later if warranted. We planted five or six swamp milkweed plants, which are the monarch caterpillars’ favorite food source.

It felt good. It made us feel closer to Marta. While so very bittersweet, it made us feel good to do something that Marta would have appreciated. When the flowers bloom, we will think of Marta. When we see butterflies enjoying our garden, we will think of Marta, and will feel a swell of pride that we did it.

With love, Marta’s Aunt Glo, Uncle Steve, and cousins Cora and Jasper

Playing around with garden layout

Plants in the ground!

Aunt Glo at work in the garden