Olathe retirement community's garden helps Monarch butterflies migrate

Diane Stoakes created a monarch butterfly garden at Aberdeen Village retirement community in Olathe when her dad, Lawrence, resided there in 2015.

Lawrence has since passed, but nine years later, Stoakes keeps the garden going.

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"I can still see his apartment from here — he lived on the third floor there, and that is a bonus of it; it kind of keeps his memory going," she said.

Other than keeping the memory of Lawrence alive, the garden helps monarch butterflies during their annual migration.

Monarchs travel from as far north as Canada to Mexico for the winter.

The garden at Aberdeen Village has five types of milkweed, which monarchs use to lay eggs, and recently hatched eggs are the monarchs that are currently migrating to Mexico.

September and October mark the peak of their migration, so Kansas Citians may spot more monarchs now than other times of the year.

The garden also houses various fall-blooming flowers, which provide nectar and energy for migrating monarchs.

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Residents Carolyn Shomber and Esther Minter enjoy the garden.

"I don't walk by here without looking to see if there's any butterflies or if I see any caterpillars," Shomber said.

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This season, the Aberdeen community has watched at least 10 monarchs grow.

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And on Thursday, Minter played a special role in a recently hatched monarch's journey — she got to release it during peak migration.

She described the act as "magic."

"It feels like an adventure, you're sending them off on life's biggest adventure," Stoakes said.

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KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily .