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Painted Lady Butterfly Population Boom

Nicholls of the Yard
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Painted lady

Painted lady butterflies are having a really good year, according to Nathan Brockman, entomologist and curator of the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing at Reiman Gardens.

Brockman conducts an annual survey of butterflies, and he's seen a lot of painted ladies recently.

"Last year, one week we saw 12, one week we saw 21; but when we did our survey this week, we saw 747 individuals on the gardens' ground."

On this horticulture day edition of Talk of Iowa, Charity Nebbe talks with Brockman, as well as Aaron Steil, assistant director of Reiman Gardens; Richard Jauron, Iowa State University Extension horticulture specialist; and Mark Vitosh, DNR district forester.

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Hort DayHorticulture
Charity Nebbe is the host of IPR's Talk of Iowa