December visit to Franklin Farm butterfly house

January 2026

Zinnia and dahlia field at Franklin Farm

My last visit to Franklin Farm butterfly house was a few days before they closed for the season in early March 2025. This time I visited a few days after they opened in December 2025. It was a very different experience, partly because I took the family and partly because it was so busy. I am pleased for them as this is only the second year Franklin Farm has run the butterfly house. Whilst there is a lot to do for families, which we enjoyed, this blog is all about the butterflies. Unfortunately I missed the butterfly release at 10am trying to herd the family out the door for the drive out west. I imagine it is amazing.

Going early in the season was partly because I could not wait to visit again and partly to visit at a different time of year to see which plants the butterflies were favouring in the Franklin Farm butterfly house. My last visit was very useful for helping determine and affirm my choices of plants for the expansion of the butterfly garden.

Buddleia / buddleja was by far the favourite plant and the dark purple variety was just ahead of the yellow globe, dark pink and white buddleias for butterfly pulling power.

Buddleia hosted the most hungry butterflies

I have the Buddleia × weyeriana yellow globe buddleia at home in pots, carefully shipped from the Hillcrest garden, much to the upset of the local buddleia weevils who loved it. However, it was clear that if they were in the ground, as they are at Franklin Farm, they would be SO much bigger. I am now going to incorporate them into the raised bed by the car deck, which gets the most sun of anywhere on the property and is to be a "tropical" bed.

Other flowers that were feeding lots of butterflies were dahlias, heliotrope, ageratum, echinacea and lion's tail.

A lovely addition this year was Franklin Farm had some of the nectar plants for sale and I was SO tempted by a bog sage, which I've had my eye on for a while, since I saw it last season in one of the breeding houses at Franklin Farm covered in butterflies. However, with a car full of people and the good size of the plant, I would have had to leave a child behind and that kind of thing is frowned upon. Perhaps if I can return by myself again, I can come back with more than beautiful photos and happy memories...