A longtime friend and neighbor of Rosalynn Carter said the former first lady’s legacy lives on through the thousands of butterfly gardens planted across the country as part of her initiative to save the Monarch butterfly.
CNN spoke with Annette Wise on November 20 as she tended a butterfly garden located just a few feet from the Carter family home where the former first lady passed away the day before. She is the co-founder and president of the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Garden Trail organization.
Wise, who has been friends with the Carters since the 70s, told CNN Rosalynn “was one of the most generous, kind people you could ever meet.”
“She was a remarkable lady, a very kindhearted, caring person. She cared for people, but she cared for nature. And her love for butterflies was because of her memories of her childhood, being in her mother’s flowerbeds,” Wise said.
The Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Garden Trail came about years ago, when the former first lady read about the threatened Monarch Butterfly population. She called on Wise for advice on what she should plant in her own garden to create a habitat to help the Monarchs and all other pollinators.
From there, Wise says it grew into several butterfly gardens around Plains, then Georgia, and eventually more than 3,000 public and private gardens across the country — and even internationally — as part of the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Garden trail.
Once a year, the organization hosts a symposium in Plains to teach the public about what butterflies need to survive and how to create a butterfly-friendly habitat.
Wise spent part of her Saturday tending to the Carter’s patio garden, something she said she’s done for years for her friend.
“It’s just been an honor to know her and to call her a friend — and to work with her and know her,” Wise told CNN.
“It was not unusual for her to tell you that she loved you,” Wise said of her friendship with Carter. “She would call or email me, keep up with the gardens and what was going on. It just brought her a lot of joy that people were interested in nature. “
Wise said Carter “would have just loved” seeing all the butterflies enjoying the flowers and sunshine in the garden, where — despite it being late November — flowers were still in bloom. One of those flowers, the “Rosalynn Carter” Camelia, a variety that is named for the former first lady.
“It’s a beautiful, pink camelia,” Wise explained as she showed off the flower inside the butterfly garden. “The camelia just bloomed Friday, so it was just real special for it to begin to bloom at this time.”
There are several gardens located around Plains, where signs celebrating and thanking the late first lady and her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, dot businesses and private homes.
The flags in downtown Plains and at the old Plains High School, where Rosalynn Carter graduated as valedictorian in 1944, fly at half-staff to honor her life. The old high school now serves as a museum as part of the Jimmy Carter National Historic site.
Wise says one of the best — and easiest — ways for people to honor the former first lady is to plant and register their own butterfly gardens with the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail organization.
“We’ve love for people who are interested in sharing Mrs. Rosalynn’s love for butterflies to join the trail, be part of it,” said Wise, who added it is free to join.
