Queen Of The Monarchs Our Butterfly Crisis

Maria is all aflutter over the fate of her winged friends

- Cloe Willets

Stepping into her Christchurch garden, Maria Romero is met with dozens of monarch butterflies that dart through the trees. In a greenhouse out the back, their eggs lay on a collection of swan plants, surrounded by blossoming nectar blooms like marigolds and sunflowers.

“It’s beautiful having the monarchs here and when people walk past the house, they stop,” gushes Maria, an avid gardener, who is on a mission to increase the number of her fluttery friends.

A day earlier, she was prancing around a classroom in vibrant butterfly-toned fabric, holding the plumpest caterpillar from her garden and talking about its magical metamorphosis.