Out of tragic loss, a community treasure

Sally McMurry is a Centre County Extension Master Gardener.

In the early days, Tom Tudek Memorial Park was still a work in progress.

by Sally McMurry

Sally McMurry is a Centre County Extension Master Gardener.

In the early days, Tom Tudek Memorial Park was still a work in progress. Though State College was rapidly developing towards the end of the twentieth century, farmland still ringed the town and the Penn State University.
In 1992, Ferguson Township acquired a 42-acre parcel of farmland from donors Robert and Elsie Tudek. The Tudeks wished to create a park in memory of their son Tom, who had died tragically in an accident at seventeen. The township added twenty adjoining acres.
In 1996, retired Penn State University entomology professor, Robert Snetsinger and his wife, Wendy, friends of the Tudeks, were also grieving over the loss of a seventeen-year-old child. Both Tom Tudek and Clare Snetsinger had collected butterflies as children, so the two families began to share a vision of a butterfly garden in the park.
Dr. Snetsinger started monitoring a 3-acre site at the northwest corner of the developing park. In this overgrown tangle of bull thistle, crown vetch and multi-flora rose he could document only half-a-dozen butterfly species. A large reservoir of leftover seeds in the soil was crowding out the more butterfly-friendly plant species.
Aided by the Frost Entomological Museum, the Tudek Trust, Ferguson Township, and Centre Region Council of Governments, Dr. Snetsinger started a program of gradually replacing the old flora with plants that would attract butterfly species. The new plants would not only provide nectar for adult butterflies but also offer appropriate habitat for the three other stages in the lepidoptera life cycle.
Each species of butterfly has evolved to be very selective and will only lay their eggs on plants that the emerging caterpillar will eat and digest. Monarch caterpillars, for instance, need milkweed to survive. Others overwinter on or near specific plant species. Some fritillary species caterpillars, for instance, sleep away the winter next to their native violet food supply.
Armed with his extensive knowledge of butterfly ecology, Dr. Snetsinger slowly cleared away old growth from the edge of the field and planted milkweed, asters and various species of butterfly-attracting native shrubs and trees. By 2006 more than 32 butterfly species were observed in the garden. Signage and other materials appeared to help visitors interpret the transformations they were seeing.
In 2007 the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners came into the picture as partners. A handful of curious Master Gardener interns ventured into the park to join Dr. Snetsinger as he worked in the garden. Current coordinator Pam Ford remembers that these sessions involved far more than just yanking weeds (though there was that aplenty); they were an education in the life sciences.
Each day Dr. Snetsinger would show the interns an insect in its habitat and expound on its life cycle, feeding habits or camouflage strategies.
“When I saw my first spicebush butterfly caterpillar, with those huge fake eyes, I was hooked!” said Ford.
Together Dr. Snetsinger and the Master Gardeners shaped a broad interpretive mission for the site: to educate the public about the importance of all pollinators. Public awareness and concern were growing about the threats to pollinator species. Colony Collapse Disorder in honey bees had made the news, but honey bees weren’t the only species threatened.
The Master Gardeners envisioned several Demonstration Gardens that would bring the message about pollinator conservation to the public. The beautiful, showy butterflies would be the flag bearers for the enterprise. The first Demonstration Garden to appear was the Pollinator Demonstration Garden in 2009.
By patient, hard work, Snetsinger and his Master Gardener collaborators transformed a nondescript field into a beautiful, multi-season garden featuring colorful perennial flowers, shrubs and trees. Most of the plants are natives; all have been selected for their merits as nectar sources or caterpillar host plants for butterfly species.
More and more Master Gardener members have joined with the effort so that today over 40 members regularly participate in its programs.
In 2011 the site was dedicated as the Snetsinger Butterfly Garden at Tom Tudek Memorial Park, in honor of Dr. Snetsinger, now fondly known as “Butterfly Bob.”
Today the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners maintain a Pollinator Friendly Demonstration Garden, a Monarch Watch Waystation, a Woodland Demonstration Garden and a Native Bee Conservation Garden, all to educate the public about the importance of pollinators to our food supply and to show people how to change their own gardening practices to encourage pollinators at Tom Tudek Memorial Park.
The Pollinator Friendly Demonstration Garden is arranged just like traditional perennial beds, with an eye to color, texture, seasonal bloom and composition. The difference is that the garden employs a mix of native plants and non-invasive nectar and food plants expressly designed to attract abundant insect life. The Monarch Way Station concentrates the Monarch’s host plant, the milkweed species. The Woodland Demonstration Garden assembles native trees, understory shrubs and ground covers.Another demonstration garden, the Native Plant Demonstration Garden, is maintained by partner organization the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society.

The newest, the Native Bee Conservation Garden, displays a “bug hotel” that shelters native bee pollinator species.
The Penn State Extension Master Gardeners also organize public events at the site including their annual “Wings in the Park” celebration (see related story, p. 10), tours, and (new this year) a “Second Sundays” series of walks and talks.
The Snetsinger Butterfly Garden has exerted an impact throughout the State College community, well beyond the Master Gardener group.
At the site itself, over fifty Community Stewards do projects in various corners of the Snetsinger Butterfly Garden. On any given day one might find a Girl Scout troop earning merit badges; students from the State High Wild Dream Team learning about the butterfly life cycle; individuals from neighboring homes learning how to adopt practices for their home gardens.
Pam Ford said the Community Steward program was born from an outgrowth of the “Tom Sawyer effect.”
“People would come by and say, ‘Hey, that looks fun. Can I help?’” Ford said.
These community members became known as Community Stewards, who receive guidance and even plants from the Extension Master Gardeners. They learn pollinator-friendly gardening literally with hands-on experience.
Many who don’t work in the garden enjoy it, too, since it is on a very popular and busy bike/pedestrian path.
Another community-wide impact of the project is through “Satellite Gardens.” Satellite Gardens have sprouted at elementary schools, community gardens and churches around the region.
Master Gardeners supply introductory instruction and plant material and offer educational programming for pollinator-friendly gardens throughout the community.
This initiative too sprang from a chance encounter in the park. An elementary school teacher had ordered Monarch caterpillars by mail for her classroom life-cycle unit. They soon munched their way through the limited supply of milkweed available to her. Frantic, she came to the Snetsinger Butterfly Garden to harvest milkweed leaves.
“Wouldn’t it be great if you could have a garden right at the school?” suggested Ford. “That way, the students could see the whole life cycle as it really takes place in nature instead of watching it in a glass box.”
Today, there are over twenty satellite gardens throughout the community, including seven schools, two churches, a children’s museum and three community gardens.
Two newly developed satellite gardens are in Parker Dam State Park, one of which is an Eagle Scout Project that will highlight Pa.-native plants that attract regional butterflies.
More development is planned, including an Observation Deck and a “serenity space.” The garden’s site high above State College makes it a prime spot for “vista points.”
As the number of Master Gardener participants and Community Stewards continues to grow, we can anticipate even more color and life in the garden in future years.
Born of grief, the Snetsinger Butterfly Garden at Tom Tudek Memorial Park has become a cherished community treasure and a place for residents of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy.