Butterfly House
Butterfly House
Ladew Topiary Gardens, 2018
Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton Maryland is a 22-acre site featuring both formal gardens and natural landscapes. The grounds include an historic manor home along with a seasonal butterfly house — the first of its kind in the region. Ashton designed the identity and site's educational signage for the Butterfly House.
Identity / Environments
Logo Design
Identity Development
Interpretive Signage
Illustration Direction
Ladew collects butterflies, caterpillars, and eggs from the surrounding area, unlike typical butterfly houses that import their specimens.
Custom-made insect magnets show what visitors will find in the Butterfly House each day.
Interpretive signs found among the native plantings feature botanical illustrations of local flora and depict the life cycles of 25 species of butterflies and moths.
Ashton collaborated with Sue Myers—an artist, teacher, and naturalist at Ladew—to create custom entomological and botanical illustrations.
Nestled in the bushes, the signage fits in naturally with the environment to provide information in a non-disruptive manner.
Photography
Vivian Doering
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