With word of the 2022 monarch migration doing better than previous years, I wanted to find a butterfly grove area that didn’t require more then a drive of 2-4 hours. Did such a place near Los Angeles County even existed? I stumbled on a website that listed lesser known butterfly grove areas and found the Norma Gibbs Butterfly Park which adjoins the Gibbs Park in Huntington Beach.

Norma Gibbs was a former mayor of Huntington Beach and this garden was maintained by one of its volunteers, Leslie Gilson, for nearly 15 years. Gilson was instrumental in maintaining the park and wrote grants to help fund the park when several of its eucalyptus trees died.

According to the Huntington Beach Trees website, there have been new upgrades to the park including a mosaic tile entrance way and circular walkway which details the lifecycle of the Monarch butterfly. The tile artwork is by Lubica Selica.

I didn’t see clusters of butterflies when I was there—apparently their arrival time is around the last week of October or the first week of November for this area. Regardless, I saw several monarch butterflies fluttering away as well as several cloudless sulphur butterflies.

Flowering plants such as senna and skyflowers are planted along the perimeters of the park to provide nectar. It invites other pollinators like hummingbirds and bees who are looking for a source of food.

There are several different types of trees here, the majority being eucalyptus. While eucalyptus is not a native plant of Southern California, it has been established in this area and monarch butterflies have adapted themselves to these trees. The tall height of these trees is an advantage for the monarchs who may find themselves wanting to steer further away from the busy suburban and urban streets below but still requiring a rest area before they proceed with their flight to Mexico.

Adjacent to the butterfly garden, is a city park named Gibbs Park. It is a city park with expanses of green grass and is not easily confused with the actual butterfly garden which is dense with trees and surround by flowering bushes. The butterfly park is a special garden and it leaves one hard to believe that it exists in a middle of an Orange County suburb.

Norma Gibbs Butterfly Park is located at 16641 Graham Street in Huntington Beach.

For more information on the Norma Gibbs Butterfly Park visit the Huntington Beach trees website: https://hbtrees.org/gibbs-park/news-from-gibbs-park/