
The mission of The Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail® is to establish, preserve, and promote a healthy natural habitat for butterflies, with an emphasis on the Monarch butterfly, as well as to educate the public on host and nectar sources needed for butterflies common in an area. We support recent research from leading institutions that demonstrates the commercially raising and releasing of butterflies can be harmful to the native population of butterflies.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s pollinator garden at their home in Plains, Georgia was the inspiration to the establishment of the trail. In 2013, Mrs. Carter was concerned about pollinators and especially Monarch butterflies. Many pollinators have suffered from loss of habitat, chemicals, and weather conditions.
Monarch butterflies and native milkweed was common in the childhood days of Mrs. Carter and she decided that nectar and host plants for the Monarchs and other butterflies common in our area needed to be added to her flower gardens and yard.
This one garden lead to 2 additional pollinator gardens in her yard, followed by numerous gardens created around Plains. As interest grew Rosalynn Carter with the assistance of Annette Wise developed a trail to connect pollinator gardens. The Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail continues to grow with gardens now located across the United States of America, Canada, Europe and Japan.