Butterfly House opens at Selby Gardens’ Historic Spanish Point campus

Attraction similar to one at Selby Gardens during Dali exhibit

This is the Butterfly House on the Historic Spanish Point campus of Selby Gardens. Image courtesy Selby Gardens

A new experience has taken flight, in a manner of speaking, at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Historic Spanish Point campus: The Butterfly House opened to the public on Oct. 31, the Gardens announced.

The region’s only butterfly house stands next to the outdoor Native Butterfly Garden on the Historic Spanish Point campus, a news release notes. “Visitors to Selby Gardens’ Butterfly House will be surrounded by colorful Florida butterflies and their favorite flowers,” the release adds.

“Guests who experienced the Butterfly House at our Downtown Sarasota campus as part of our Salvador Dali: Gardens of the Mind exhibition asked repeatedly if we could permanently keep it,” said Jennifer Rominiecki, president and CEO of Selby Gardens, in the release. “We’re excited that visitors to the Historic Spanish Point campus will get to experience the magic of standing inside the Butterfly House every day,” she added in the release.

“More than 160 butterfly species breed in Florida, and about 200 species migrate through the state,” the release explains. “Many butterflies in Florida aren’t found anywhere else in North America,” the release notes. Among species that might be spotted in the Butterfly House and in the Sunshine State are the cloudless sulfur, giant swallowtail, Gulf fritillary, monarch, orange-barred sulphur, and the zebra longwing (the Florida state butterfly), the release points out.

Butterflies play an important role in pollination, the release adds.

The Butterfly House is sponsored by The Charles T. Bauer Foundation.