To the best of our knowledge, SM City Santa Rosa in La Laguna is the only mall in the Philippines with a butterfly garden. Or at least, the first mall to ever have one.
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| SM City Santa Rosa is the first shopping mall franchise in our province. |
SM City Santa Rosa is also the first SM Supermall in our province. It stands on what was once a huge farmland in Barrio Tagapo, right beside the old national highway. I can still vividly remember that part of the highway: it was really scenic and refreshing, a delightful place to be whenever I go to and from Calambâ. To the left and right of the highway, you'd see almost nothing but a sea of rich green stalks swaying gently with the breeze. To the east, especially on a clear day, one could have a view of Laguna de Bay's serene light blue tint from afar, sparkling under the sun. When Krystal was still a youngster, I even planned of bringing her there and stay underneath a shaded tree the whole afternoon where she could paint a picture of the field to hone her painting skills. But when I passed by the area again sometime in 2005, I noticed that construction was already taking place. Huge signs of SM City were all over the roadside.
Much of this pastoral scene is gone ever since SM City Santa Rosa opened to the public in early 2006. The lake can no longer be seen because houses have now sprouted to the east, the farm area there already shrunk in size. To the west, right behind SM City Santa Rosa, still remains a significant tract of farmland, but it can no longer be seen because of the mall's imposing façade.
Oh, well. I guess that's the price we all have to pay for the sake of economic progress.
However, whatever pastoral imagery had been lost in that area was immediately replaced by SM City Santa Rosa with something very close to the colors of nature: an attractive butterfly garden.
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| At Krystal's left is the mall's butterfly garden, perhaps the only one of its kind inside a Philippine mall. I don't think other SM Supermalls, or any other mall for that matter, have anything like it. |
At 50 m2, this butterfly garden is located at the mall's first level. It is cylindrical in shape and is encased in fiber glass. Ornamental plants and flowers are within the glass-covered garden and the place is exposed to the sun to ensure a livable habitat for the winged insects (especially since they wouldn't survive the mall's airconditioning). The butterfly garden is said to contain about 20 different species of butterfly at any given day.
We've been to this mall several times, passing by the cylinder from time to time just to catch a glimpse of these gorgeously winged creatures, but rarely did we see them flying about. Last year, during Juanito's fourth birthday (1 April 2013), we had the chance to enter the glass cylinder. We didn't even know that people were allowed to enter! But for a fee, of course. I forgot how much they charge (sorry), but it's just less than ₱100, and one can stay inside for half an hour. So long as you don't harm the butterflies.
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| There they are! |
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| Butterfly eggs and larvae are well taken care of inside glass containers within the small garden. |
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| For sure, Juanito had a memorable birthday last year! |
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| This garden is exposed to the sky. See that lonesome butterfly up there? |
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| Those butterflies just loved to be with me! But why? Maybe because they knew that I'm Pepe Alas. :-) |
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| Say BUTTER, not cheese! Them buttered flies might just get jealous. |
Speaking of Juanito, his birthday is less than a month away! Time to plan!. =)
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