By DIANTÉ MARIGNY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
Hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, and the like…can now enjoy a new home on South Padre Island. Last week, city officials and public works planted over 400 new flowers on a median on Padre Blvd. The goal? To create a habitat on the island for pollinators and birds looking for shelter and nectar.
Birds and butterflies in general have been suffering from population decline in the past years, mostly because of habitat loss. This pollinator garden was created to help them recover and help their numbers increase.
Javier Gonzalez is a naturalist educator who helped place the plants where they best would thrive. He said over the years, the island has lost a lot of habitats from development. This is why Lisa Graves, with the help of the SPI city council, decided to make this happen.
The flowers can be seen on the right side, driving north on Padre Blvd. soon after getting off of the Causeway. There’s even a small parking lot where visitors can park and walk along a pathway around the garden to admire the plants and creatures they attract.
Lantanas, Turks caps lily’s, Esperanzas, birds of paradise, betony mist flowers, tropical milk weeds, and more, are among the 400 flowers planted there, making for a colorful eye-catching attraction.
Gonzalez said this project is important for ecotourism, a huge driver to the economy on the Island and in the RGV. “If we want to keep that going and keep people coming down, then we have to make sure we preserve our habitats and create more,” he said. “It’s a multi-million-dollar industry, and people come from all around the world. If we don’t [create more habitats], the birds will stop coming, then the birders will stop coming…big loss.”
The flowers cost around $6.000, paid for by the City of South Padre Island. The garden will be maintained by the Public Works Department.