Welcome to the Butterfly Garden at Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara – Let the Migration Begin!

Just in time for this summer’s arrival of Monarch butterflies, Seasons Restaurant introduces The Butterfly Garden – a limited-time experience at Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara in Carlsbad, just a half-hour north of San Diego. To attract more Monarchs than ever, the outdoor veranda of Seasons Restaurant is being transformed with a special garden, along with an enticing Happy Hour menu of cocktails and cuisine.  

Each year thousands of Monarch butterflies choose San Diego as a resting spot as they travel their route of more than 1,500 miles (more than 2,400 kilometres) across North America. However, the number of Western Monarch butterflies migrating along the coast has plummeted precipitously, pushing these marvelous creatures towards extinction.

“We want to do our part to help the butterflies thrive,” says Demi Ortega, Regional Vice President and General Manager of Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara. “We’re showing our commitment to the environment by providing a garden butterflies love, educating our guests on the Monarch migration and, at the same time, supporting an important local charity.” A portion of proceeds from the Butterfly Garden menu will be donated to the non-profit Butterfly Farms in nearby Encinitas.

As Ortega points out, “There’s a particularly wonderful connection between the butterflies and the guests and owners who return to our Residence Club year after year. Both the butterflies and the people are faithfully migrating back to Aviara.”

From June 15 to September 6, 2021, the outdoor veranda at Seasons Restaurant will feature a central planting of milkweeds intended to attract Monarch butterflies. The milkweed plants themselves add an interesting dimension to Aviara’s environmental efforts. Experts recommend planting native milkweed instead of tropical or other non-native milkweeds. Carlsbad itself is home to the wild narrow leaf milkweed. The US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Fish and Wildlife have partnered with Butterfly Farms to propagate this specific plant. In turn, Seasons Restaurant is featuring the plant in the Butterfly Garden, supporting Butterfly Farms’ goal to educate the local community. Ask a server to point out the plant in the garden!  

Watching colourful Monarch butterflies fluttering among the milkweeds adds a magical quality to Seasons Restaurant’s daily Happy Hour. The veranda itself has beautiful view of the resort-style swimming pool, made even more enjoyable when paired with San Diego sunshine and a menu of visually stunning cocktails and California-forward cuisine:  

• For cocktails, choose from four specialties including The Monarch Spritz, which truly sparkles in the sunlight. The Enchantress is a balanced combination of whisky, ginger beer, lemon and mint. Margarita lovers will be “wowed” by The Great Migration, a surprising take on a classic. This mezcal tequila Margarita is jet black in colour thanks to the addition of activated charcoal with its detoxifying qualities. The Metamorphosis combines blanco tequila and passionfruit, turning a beautiful lavender colour with the addition of butterfly pea flower for an added dose of antioxidants.
• For light bites, try the prosciutto crostini, a shareable dish featuring black olive tapenade and cauliflower purée on crisp toast – cut to resemble butterfly wings; or the scallop aguachile, with scallops cocooned in jicama, then topped with radishes, cilantro and slices of cucumber.  
• For dessert, try the stunning blackberry semifreddo, flanked by savoury sage butter cookies and local Carlsbad strawberries. Another delightful option is the butterfly nectar, a creative fruit cup presented in a round, fishbowl glass and topped with a poppyseed palmier folded in the shape of butterfly wings. The dish resembles a butterfly perched on a flower, drinking its nectar.   
  

The Butterfly Garden at Seasons Restaurant runs daily from 2:00 to 5:00 pm, exclusively from June 15 to September 6, 2021. For reservations, contact 760 814 8677 or visit www.seasonsaviara.com.

To learn more about butterflies and their habitats, guests can visit Butterfly Farms in Encinitas – just 15 minutes away – and step inside the Vivarium, the largest native butterfly free house in Southern California. It’s a truly dazzling spectacle, surrounding visitors with hundreds of local butterflies and native plants. Butterfly Farms also hosts many activities that are open to the public for a small fee. Contact Butterfly Farms at info@butterflyfarms.com.