Attention Lepidopterists

Hey, all you lepidopterists and aurelians!

Starting tomorrow, May 8, and running until this October, the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, just a scant walk from our fair neighborhood, will be hosting a Butterflies & Blooms installation. Last week, when we walked by, the western wing of the conservatory of flowers was in the midst of being transformed into a butterfly paradise: concrete blocks on pallets were being used to build walls for flower beds and gauzy white mosquito netting hung from the ceiling frames to keep out the heat. And tomorrow, that room will be transformed into an indoor butterfly garden, with more than twenty species of American butterflies and moths flying around freely. There will also be an exhibit of butterflies in various stages of metamorphosis. While the focus of the exhibit is on the life cycles of butterflies and the role they play in plant pollination, the only reason we need to check it out is the surreal, strange experience of wandering around a Victorian greenhouse filled with scores of live butterflies.