By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
SOUTHGATE – The Felty Farm, a suburban flowering oasis on Windermere Circle, was in full bloom Aug. 23 for the butterfly garden’s annual fundraiser for animal rescue groups.
Animal rescue groups, including Verne Felty’s Blind Cat Sanctuary, the River Rouge Animal Shelter, Friends of Companion Animals, and Happy Paws Haven participated, along with other supporters and volunteers.
Raffle baskets added to the fundraisers, and participating groups had individual booths with information as well as items for sale.
While the front yard has flowers, the backyard is completely filled with vibrant, blooming plants, accessible only by a narrow pathway, transporting one from suburbia to a mystical secret garden.
Verne Felty said this is the fifteenth year she has opened her butterfly garden to the public, with a neighbor allowing her to use their front yard to expand the fundraiser.
She said they initially put a pond in the backyard and added plants, which they noticed were attracting monarch butterflies.
Felty said she did some research and learned about the non-profit Monarch Watch, and learned how to create a garden that attracted them.
She recently added a butterfly house to raise monarchs.
Felty said her Russian grandmother, who raised her, introduced her to perennial gardening and butterflies when she was a child.
She said when she became an empty nester, they got rid of their swimming pool and added a pond with fish.
Felty has no idea how many different types of flowers she has, but guesses that she has hundreds of varieties.
“I would say 90 percent of them are native plants, and probably more than half are plants that are actually food for the butterflies,” she said. “We have different species of milkweed, we have dill, we have fennel, and we have pearly everlasting, and it’s for the painted ladies.”
Painted ladies are the most widely distributed butterfly species in the world.
Felty said the butterflies bring her more joy than her flowers.
“I think a lot of people come through here and it’s not as colorful as they would expect it out here, but a lot of them are host plants,” she said.
Felty said her butterfly garden is something she loves to nurture.
When winter comes, she said she works on outreach for people who help with feral cats in River Rouge and Ecorse, supplying cat food.
Felty also has a sanctuary that shelters eight blind cats.
Dr. Lucretia Greear of the Woodhaven Animal Hospital, who has participated in the fundraiser for the past seven years, said they were here to support the animal rescue groups that benefit from the fundraiser.
“Our animal hospital provides medical care for a lot of rescue groups and a lot of organizations, so every dollar that we are collecting for donations we are giving back to them,” she said. “And everything that we are doing, our proceeds, this is just our way to outreach and help the community and help just these wonderful groups that do rescue work.”
Greear said they sponsored a butterfly release of 100 painted ladies at the event this year in honor of Verne Felty’s granddaughter Molly, who died during the past year.
“So, there are painted ladies and monarchs flying all over back there,” she said. “This is amazing: I mean, all of this for animal rescue, and just that people put energy and time into helping these organizations that are literally just giving their time and energy and hard work and resources to benefit rescue and animals.
“It’s just a beautiful thing, and it’s wonderful to see people come together for such a great cause.”
River Rouge Animal Shelter manager and volunteer Patty Trevino said it was nice to connect with people they don’t get to see very often because their rescue work keeps them busy.
“So, it’s nice to see other people who are like-minded,” she said. “But this is also very important because a lot of our animals come in in need of vet care, and the city doesn’t provide it, they don’t have it in their budget, so it’s up to us to raise the money so that we can give them the vet care they need.”
The River Rouge Animal Shelter serves River Rouge, Ecorse and Melvindale primarily, and will on some occasions take an animal that no one else will take.
Trevino said they just had a beautiful husky that came in whose ears were chewed up, whom they have placed on antibiotics, but he is heartworm positive, which will require a $1,200 treatment, which is an example of why they continue to raise money to care for animals.
She said they have a great support system of volunteers who help with donations.
Trevino said she’s grateful for the many people who care about animals, as well as the attendees supporting the fundraiser and donating to the cause.