Then-Cowan Mayor Mark Ledbetter recently announced that a pollinator garden located outside the Artisan Depot Gallery in Cowan is now certified and registered as an official monarch-butterfly way station.

The Monarch Watch Organization certified the garden, and Ledbetter made the announcement during the gallery’s recent third Friday artist reception.

The pollinator garden was originally established by long-time gardener Alida Morgan, who led the rehabilitation and planting of the grounds around a pass-through pedestrian walkway between buildings in Cowan.

Over time, it has become a pollinator haven for many species of bees, friendly wasps and butterflies. After two years of monarch-butterfly sightings there, the gardeners and gallery artists decided to create a monarch way station.

Mayor Ledbetter urges everyone to visit the garden.

“Our communities are invited to take a break in the pollinator garden and enjoy one of nature’s most dazzling creations,” he said.

The Artisan Depot is located at 204 Cumberland St. East in Cowan.

Any garden can become a way station by taking some very deliberate steps to support monarchs. For information, visit monarchwatch.org.