The Dr. Bill Roston Butterfly House

An "Up Close and Personal" Look

The Dr. Bill Roston Native Butterfly House lets you get an up-close look at native butterflies as they transform from egg to caterpillar, from caterpillar to chrysalis, and finally from chrysalis to butterfly! Learn about host plants and how to attract butterflies to your home landscape. Interpretive guides will help you find critters and answer your butterfly questions. The Butterfly House is a favorite field trip destination for group tours. The Butterfly House had 15,332 official visitors in 2010 followed by 17,001 in 2011.

This is the only native butterfly house in Missouri that operates from mid-May through September. We are here dedicated to the conservation of our dwindling number of native butterflies—these are the butterflies you might see in your own gardens. The Butterfly House looks like a greenhouse, but instead of glass it is covered in fine netting that keeps the butterflies inside for your enjoyment. What you will discover in the house is the life cycle of our most common Ozark butterflies. Inside, are thirty types of host plants, on which the female butterfly can lay eggs. You can see the butterflies laying their eggs; you can see the caterpillars emerge and develop into pupa. You may even see the magic moment when the adult butterfly emerges from the pupa. There is literature available to assist you in your education if a volunteer is not there to guide you through.

Hours

The Butterfly House is open Saturdays and Sundays, 10AM to 6 PM and Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 5PM to dusk, May 11 through September. Admission is free and there are usually docents available to show you around and answer your questions. For group tours call 417.891.1515.

Tram Service

The free tram service will be provided from 1–4:30 pm on weekends, April through September. The tram service will pick up from the main parking lot at the Botanical Center near the east entrance. It will make a basic loop around Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park past many of the gardens and attractions.  The tram is sponsored by the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department.

See also: The Butterfly Garden

Explore a garden of host plants for caterpillars and butterflies! This garden showcases plants to attract an amazing variety of butterflies to the home landscape. Chase a butterfly or two and pick up some ideas to try at home! Butterflies use two different types of plants - those that provide nectar for the adults to eat (nectar plant), and those that provide food for their offspring (host plant).

Dial & Discover

What else can you find in the Butterfly House and Garden? All the gardens and special features in the park are part of a self-guided audio tour. Call 417.213.3016, then enter 46# for the Butterfly House and 47# for the small garden just west of the Butterfly House, and 45# for the Butterfly Garden. There’s no cost except your minutes, try it out!

Photo by Roy Thompson

Butterfly Festival July 21, 2012

This free event is a favorite of children and adults and celebrates all things butterfly-related. Children’s activities include crafts and a caterpillar petting zoo. Vendors set up shop selling a variety of plants and garden-related merchandise. A series of classes including butterfly photography and butterfly identification are offered.

Monarch Tagging in September

Volunteer tagging reveals the general movements of the Monarch throughout the western states and allows us to learn about how climate trends and human encroachment affect their migration patterns and populations.

Get Involved

Want to make children smile? You can become a trained volunteer docent! Help visitors gain a better understanding of butterflies, butterfly gardening and the natural habitat in which butterflies thrive. Learn the difference between butterflies & moths and butterfly identification. Volunteer a few hours, one day a week, or one day a month. Schedules are flexible. Contact us for details, call 417.891.1515.

Create your own butterfly garden or register your garden as a Monarch Waystation with the Friends of the Garden informative brochures available in the Butterfly House and at the Botanical Center.

 How to Make a Butterfly Garden (1.3 MB)

 Create a Monarch Waystation (314.36 kB)