Watch the Pollinator Crop Art Grow!

To promote awareness of the importance and beauty of pollinators, artist Stan Herd is teaming up with the Pollinator Partnership to create a half-acre crop art replica of the U.S.P.S. Southern Dogface butterfly stamp, one of the stamps in the new Pollination series being released during National Pollinator Week.

Herd specializes in large-scale earthworks such as crop art and rock mosaics, and has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Wall Street Journal. His previous work can be viewed at www.stanherdart.com.

Herd's crop art installation of the U.S.P.S. Southern Dogface butterfly stamp is being created near Pendelton's Country Market, a family farm in Kansas, and will only be visable aerially for a few weeks!

Visit this site for updates as the crop art grows!

(A special thanks to Chip Taylor and Monarch Watch for providing all photos.)

Thanks to Katherine Boylan for this photo.

It's Done!

Touch ups will be ongoing for the rest of the week and the image will continue to fill in as more marigolds open and the petunias add more flowers.

The completed butterfly as seen from a scissors lift some 60' above the image. Note the detail on the body and the antennae. Butterflies are characterized by their distinctly segmented antennae with a "club" at the end. Moths don't have this feature. How did Stan create an image that clearly depicts a butterfly's antenna? Would you believe with cucumbers and acorn squash?

Margarete Johnson carefully watering the dog face "stamp". Note that the butterfly now has a body and antennae.

Stan with image in hand using a weed eater to shape the outline of the Vernonia leaves.

The right side of the image showing the simulated Vernonia flowers and leaves with Margarete and Stan doing some last minute improvements before the arrival of the press at 11AM.

With John Pendleton running the scissors lift, the press, including the Kansas City Star, Channel 6 (Lawrence), Channel 9 (Kansas City), Channel 13 (Topeka) and others, obtained a good view of the "stamp".

Pollination stamps will be available to the public at the "Pollination Station" in the center of the Nation from 11-2 on Saturday the 30th at Pendelton's Country Market. 2nd day covers and other stamps can be hand canceled with a unique design prepared by Stan Herd.

A windmill and the press suspended or maybe I should say elevated or uplifted. Or, maybe I shouldn't say anything at all.

June 24, 2007: Nearing the End

Stan kept assuring me that in spite of all the setbacks created by nature's extremes, he had everything under control. I really wanted to believe him, I really did. However, the images I took on the 19th left me with a bit of unease to say the least. Much remained to do. There was weeding and planting and sculpting and shaping and all that sand to put down. How could it possibly all get done by the 25th? So, it was with some concern that I left town for a long conference on citizen science in Ithaca on the 20th. I returned late on the afternoon of the 24th and drove directly to the Pendleton's to find the project nearly completed. Wow! The amount of work done in the previous 5 days was extraordinary. Stan and his crew worked hard but special thanks are due to Margarete Johnson. Margarete is a well known Master Gardener and she devoted many, many hours this past week to weeding and planting.

As I left the Pendleton's at 6:30PM, Stan was laying out the USA 41 for the stamp but there was still the body of the butterfly to complete and there were no antennae and the media were due at 11 tomorrow the 25th.

The dog face butterfly as seen from the west tower.

Another image from the west tower showing simulated Vernonia flowers (petunias) and leaves (soybeans).

If you use a bit of imagination, you can see a dog's face in the left wing of the dog face butterfly image.

Here is Stan using his higher math skills to lay out the "USA 41" in the corner of the stamp.

June 22, 2007: National Pollinator Week Draws Near

June 19, 2007: Flurry of Marigolds

Marigolds have been replanted in the left fore-wing of the butterfly and more have been added to the right hind-wing to improve the density of the yellow color. Numerous flats of marigolds are in reserve and these will be planted to fill in thin areas on the left hind-wing of the butterfly. The soybeans are filling in nicely but some areas have had to be replanted 4 times due to the heavy rains.

The petunias have been a disappointment and are far too thin to give the necessary color to the image when seen from the air. The heavy rains and cloudy, rather than sunny, conditions have been a factor. But, stay tuned, there is plan B, which will be revealed in due course.

A dense area of marigold that should fill even more as new buds open.

June 17, 2007: A Big Week for Pollinator Crop Art

From the entrance to the crop art one can see splashes of color, marigolds in the wings, two colors of petunias for the flowers, and two shades of green. The darker green represents the recently planted soybeans. The lighter greens are fast growing pigweeds that will have to be weeded out of the image.

Stan used the tiller to break up the soil on the left wing of the butterfly to facilitate replanting marigolds that died from the flooding of the 7th.

The soybeans, in front and to the right of Stan, are filling in nicely. Some of the petunias will be replaced in an area that was flooded and more need to be planted to create the density of color required for the Vernonia flower when seen from above.

June 14, 2007: Replanting After the Rains

A male black swallowtail butterfly probing for moisture among the recently watered emerging soybeans.

Petunias are being planted to represent the Vernonia flowers in the area Stan outlined on the 5th. Note how the soybeans are beginning to fill in the background.

Stan has started work on the body of the butterfly and was busy today replanting some of the marigolds that became a bit too waterlogged in the earlier flood.

If you look closely, you can see sprouting soybeans in the outline of the Vernonia leaf replanted by Stan on the 12th.

June 12, 2007: Crop Art, Like Farming, Isn't Easy

"Hmmm. That butterfly looks like it's too big for my net."

This facsimile of a Vernonia leaf was flooded two days after Stan had planted it with soybeans. Today, Stan carefully replanted and mulched the area. Crop art, like farming, isn't easy.

The marigolds are beginning to fill in as more blossoms open. The petunias are lagging but should get a boost from the the mostly sunny days and temperatures in the mid 80's promised us for the next 5 days. After two dreary days a bit of sun appeared and, for a moment, you could see shadows.

The emerging soybeans within these Vernonia leaf outlines will soon provide a complete canopy of green.

June 10, 2007: Progress Report

There is good news and bad new. The hydrological cycle is a bit out of whack and Lawrence, Kansas and the surrounding area have been getting a bit more than their usual share of the June precipitation. The 3.5 inch rain of the 7th turned a third of the area of the crop art into a small lake that began to attract aquatic insects.

Quick drying was needed and the good news is that by the afternoon of the 9th, most of the area was dry and the soy beans were beginning to sprout. By the end of the day things were looking up and the weather persons promised only scatter showers during the night. They blew it! "It was a dark and stormy night" - with magnificent rolling thunder, sharp cracks of lightning and another inch of rain.

Nevertheless, by this afternoon standing water was evident in only in the SW corner of the site; not a critical area. However, since more rainfall is possible, there have been several suggestions as to how to address the prospect of additional flooding. John Pendleton was on the phone this afternoon trying to locate sandbags and the possibility of bringing in loads of dirt to raise the low area has been discussed.

In spite of the abundant rain and the minimalist sun, the marigolds are doing well and many have 8-10 buds that should burst forth brightly just on time. The petunias on the other hand need some work but we have plans for those too.

Are we challenged? Yes! Are we discouraged? No! It's going to come together - even if it is at the last minute.

June 8, 2007: And Then Came The Rains...

Elsewhere they might have called it a downpour, a deluge, or a torrential rain but some here in Kansas would have described it as a "toad strangler" - a rain that comes down so hard and fast that even the toads don't have a chance. That's what happened here yesterday - a real toad strangler of a rain, about 3 1/2 inches, hit the Pendleton farm on the afternoon of 7 June. As these images taken at noon on the 8th show, water backed up into the crop art from a nearby wetland, making a lake of about a third of the prospective image. The new pond was so attractive to the local dragon flies that a few could be seen dipping their abdomens in the water to lay eggs.

The challenge now is to drain the area, preferably by the end of the day. According to Karen Pendleton, John was planning on opening a dammed area to allow the water to drain from the image and the surrounding field.

The crop art as seen from the west tower. Most of the flowers are elevated enough to not be affected by the high water. Some of the soybeans planted on the 5th floated or drifted with the inundation and will have to be replanted. Others will sprout in areas where they are not wanted and will have to be weeded out later.

A view from the west tower.

This view shows that most of the marigolds planted to give color to the wings of the butterfly are not in standing in water.

June 5, 2007: Sowing the Soybeans

Stan Herd raking in the soybeans while John Pendleton prepares to cover the newly planted beans with cotton bur compost. The compost is used to hold in the soil moisture to help the soybeans become established.

Stan Herd sowing the soybeans. In about 10 days the sprouted soybeans will produce the leafy cover needed to represent the leaves of the veronia plant being visited by the Dogface butterfy.

Stan is outlining one of the verionia flowers. The area inside this line will be planted with purple petunias.

The image as seen from the west tower on the evening of the 5th of June. Chip Taylor's shadow is on the lower right.

Chip Taylor, Monarch Watch (left) and Stan Herd, Herd Earth Works (right)

June 4, 2007: Update from Stan

Stan Herd writes: Last night John Pendleton and I planted three areas of soybeans! The small, green, leafy plants will make a very nice shady stand of green for the leaf areas. They should sprout in three days and grow about eight inches tall by Media Day. The new petunias are arriving today!

I have transplanted a bunch of budding marigolds in larger pots so we can place them as we get closer. Monday, my workers planted quite a bit on the second Veronia areas. All we need is sunshine for a week to get them to pop! We have been "eliminating" the old heads off of each marigold plant (thus the green look of the butterfly) to make room for the emerging buds, which should start flowering in about a week and reach a peak on the 20th to the 22nd...We have twenty flats of extra marigolds so there will be no shortage of yellow.

We have decided we may use some of the hanging plants with large, purple flowers to round out the last veronia circle for the final shot if we need to. I will be working more and more to pull the image out this week and next!

I will finish the background and the black mulch on the 18th and create the letters on the 20th so they will be fresh. Essentially, we are right on schedule!

June 3, 2007: Planting Continues

View of the developing butterfly from the east tower.

This view from the west gives a better sense of how the plantings are being used to create the image.

May 31, 2007: Mulching Madness!

Spreading black mulch at the tip of the Dogface butterfly's right wing.

Stan Herd raking the mulch while worrying whether it will fade before the project is finished!

The view from the west tower showing how the yellow and orange areas of the wings are being planted with marigolds.

May 29, 2007: The People Behind the Butterfly

John Pendleton, owner of Pendleton's Country Market in Lawrence, KS, site of the Pollinator Crop Art.

John Pendleton and Craig Gold, a reporter from Channel 49, trading Stan Herd stories.

View from the ladder on the west tower showing how the image is taking shape.

Ground view. The cameraman in the foreground is shooting "B roll" for the evening news on Channel 49.

May 26, 2007: Flowers Add Color to Form

Visitors to the site will approach from the NW from the parking lots at the Pendleton's Country Market. From this perspective, there is no sense of the image being created.

The pollinator creation as seen from a slight rise on the north side of the site. The pattern of planting does not appear to represent an image. The ladder on the west tower is seen in this photo.

Pollinator crop art installation as seen from the ladder on the west tower. This perspective gives a better sense of how the image is taking shape.

May 19, 2007: Butterfly Begins to Take Shape

The outline of the Southern Dogface butterfly is beginning to take shape. A black wood chip mulch is being used to provide the black portion of the butterfly's wings. Interestingly, the mulch has the general appearance and texture of the scales on the wings of a real butterfly.

May 15, 2007: Laying the Groundwork

JPG of Pollinator Crop Art Sketch

Artist Stan Herd writes: We had a major success on the field yesterday...moving all the hay bales out of the design area and remaking the frame out of most of them. It was grueling work but with three workers and myself we pushed one hundred fifty bales into shape (120 lbs a piece). We also started 350 squash plants and 50 sunflower plants for the green areas, moved some petunias to the staging area, and generally got a great start on the project. I rototilled the site and will be out again this morning to plow again before adding amendments. Karen Pendelton is searching for more yellow flowers today and I think we are in great shape.