13 Giant Bugs

Come into my web…says the spider.  Read more about our lives and vote for us as your favorite! Thanks to all our great sponsors who made it possible for us to come to New England and meet all of you.

Here is a picture of our BIG BUGS trail at Garden in the Woods.  Look below to see David Rogers’ BIG BUGS invading the Garden.

Read all about the bugs-and the sponsors who made it all possible including http://www.bostoncentral.com/.  They are awesome!

1. Ladybug

I’m not going to ‘fly away home’ because I already feel so at home at Garden in the Woods, where my friend ‘DOTTI’ the ladybug might be found walking the trail, on ladybug weekend July 19-20. Vote for me as your favorite because I’m the only true BEETLE in the BIG BUGS show, not counting the Beatles tribute band, ‘HELP!’ the musicians from the grand opening day! David Rogers made me from black walnut and willow and I weigh 150 pounds. I can eat my own weight in aphids in one day-now that’s a voracious appetite! Thanks to the Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center for being my sponsor. They make me feel right at home.

2.  Butterfly

Everyone loves me! Do you think it’s because I can fly backwards? Maybe that’s why you should vote for me. I get two special weekends at BIG BUGS. Come to the Butterfly Festival on August 23-24 for walks and talks all day long from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., and see me again on Monarch Migration weekend September 20-21, when you can create monarch wings and learn more about special monarch food-the milkweed plant.  David Rogers created me from black walnut, black locust, and plate fungi (!), and I weigh 75 pounds. You can grow my favorite plants in your back yard, and then I’ll come visit you all the time. Guess who sponsored me? Our friends at Lepidoptera Landscape Design at www.lepidoptera.com. Do you know why that is extra special?  Look at my sign at BIG BUGS and find out.  

3. Daddy longlegs

You know I might be beautiful, brand new, and really really big but I’m not really a spider.  Come visit me at BIG BUGS and find out why! David Rogers made me extra pretty out of red cedar and willow and I will surprise you on the BIG BUGS trail. Vote for  me because I am the newest bug in the show and very stylish. Find out all the cool things I can do with my second pair of legs and see me at the Woodland Garden and at the bugmobile at Daddy longlegs weekend September 13-14. Thanks to my sponsors WBUR 90.9 FM radio and the Longfellow's Wayside Inn.

4. Dragonfly

Come see me at the Lily Pond at Garden in the Woods where, as a BIG BUG, I am the biggest dragonfly at the Lily pond! Vote for me because I look so good in the water. Some of the others may be a few inches across but I have a 17-foot wingspan!  David Rogers made me extra big from red cedar and willow but don’t expect me to fly like my other dragonfly friends because I’m attached to the pond.   Did you know some of them can fly 60 miles an hour?  Come see ‘ODO’ my friend the character dragonfly and come to Dragonfly Weekend on July 26-27.  Thanks so much to my sponsors WUMB radio.

5. Praying Mantis

I am always hungry for delicious delicacies and I’ll even eat a frog, lizard or a small bird! Maybe that’s why some people think I’m preying when I’m really praying! Did I surprise you when you walked around Laurel Bend at Garden in the Woods/   How many different kinds of mountain laurels can you count? David Rogers made me a very BIG BUG out of black locust.  I stand 20 feet tall and weigh 1200 pounds! Vote for me because I am the heaviest sculpture and it was a real feat to get me into place. You know, I don’t fly much, but I sure know a great garden when I see one-and a great meal!  Come make crafts with me on Praying Mantis weekend on September 6-7.   An extra special thanks to my sponsors Boston Central, the center for Boston area families and a great friend of the bugs at www.bostoncentral.com.

6. Damselfly

See my folded wings? Some people can’t tell the difference between me and a dragonfly, but it’s easy.  Just look for my wings pointed up or flat back when I’m resting, instead of wide open.   Here at the Garden I’m looking at lots of rare plants from my beautiful perch. Vote for me because I eat a lot of mosquitos! David Rogers made me from red cedar, black locust and willow and I weigh 100 pounds, and I’m ten feet long.   Celebrate BIG BUGS on Damselfly Weekend August 16-17.   Thanks to my sponsors at Growing Wisdom who have very colorful videos on gardening. Almost as brilliant as my multicolor wings-don’t you think? www.growingwisdom.com. 

7. Grasshopper

Hey, who spread that fairy tale that ants are more important than me?  Can they jump as far as me or make sounds like I can?  I don’t think so. What do you think?  Come to my special weekend on September 27-28 and we’ll teach you how to make a grasshopper craft and jump just like me!   David Rogers made me an extra lovely BIG BUG out of black locust wood.  I’m eleven feet long and I weigh 200 pounds.  Come find me in the giant meadow.  Do you think WICN folk and jazz radio at 90.5 FM chose to sponsor me because I make such wonderful sounds? www.wicn.org. Vote for me because you love music too.  Thanks also to the Clarion Carriage House Inn for your support.  I need a good rest after all that jumping around.

8. Bee 

I’ve been pretty busy all season but there’s so much pollinating to do!  Wait ‘til you see the lovely flower David Rogers made for me at BIG BUGS.  He created it from black walnut and red cedar wood and it weighs 150 pounds.   Now that’s a something a BIG BUG like me can really enjoy!  Did you know that I can visit more than 50 flowers in one trip to collect nectar?  Can you visit that many in just one trip?  I can’t wait to show you the 1,500 kinds of wildflowers at Garden in the Woods, - together we make the best honey!  Come see them at my special weekend on August 2-3. Thanks so much to WBUR 90.9 Boston’s NPR news radio,  and Roger B. Sturgis Landscape Design for sponsoring me, and don’t forget to join in when we the folks at the BUG-Mobile will teach you how to dance like me and do bee crafts.  I wonder what they will beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee? Vote for me because pollinators really need your help.   

9. Ant

It’s so nice to have my ant friends here at the BIG BUGS show, because I always like to be part of a colony.  Did you meet my live friend, ‘ANT MINI’? Be sure to look for live ants on the BIG BUGS Trail during Ant Weekend August 9-10 and at the BUGMOBILE, too.We love it here at Garden in the Woods, home to many of the seeds of our favorite woodland wildflowers that we help plant every year.   Don’t we do a great job planting seeds? That’s because we love to work!    Talk about work-we’re the longest sculptures in the show and David Rogers worked hard to sculpt each of us from red cedar and willow.  I’m 25 feet long.Vote for me because you love spring woodland wildflowers-and me!  Thanks to Artscope magazine www.artscopemagazine.com  and Warren Conference Center Inn for being such a hard-working sponsors, too.

10. Spider 

Call me Charlotte!   With my eight legs and two body sections I am one bug that is no insect.   My silk is stronger than steel and I use it to go ‘flying’ on the wind!   All that makes me pretty special, don’t you think?  David Rogers sculpted me for BIG BUGS from red cedar and I weigh 60 pounds, and my web is fifteen feet across.  Come celebrate my special weekend at BIG BUGS on October 18-19 and get ready for Halloween.  Vote for me because I am just so smart and useful and cute…and because you love Halloween. Thanks so much to Parents & Kids Magazine for sponsoring me and the fun BUG riddles contest. Ask lots of bug questions!

11. Assassin Bug

Don’t let my name fool you-I’m one of the REAL (or should I say wheel) bugs at BIG BUGS and although I might look fierce (and let’s face it, I’m a pretty fierce eater)I’m helpful in the garden. So what if I stab my prey and then suck out the juices-I’m still a good bug!    David Rogers made me from black walnut and red cedar and I’m 7 feet long, 200 pounds and very pretty. Come see for yourself on my Assassin Bug Weekend on October 4-5 and paint a rock at the Bugmobile. On October 5 let’s see how beautiful your own art is at the Student Art Show. Vote for me because you love things that are fierce! The trees are pretty here at Garden in the Woods, just like the art is Artscope magazine. www.artscopemagazine.com.  My sponsors, Rolf Briggs and Tree Specialists, Inc. do a great job helping to keep the trees healthy, too. www.treespecialists.com.  

12, 13. 

Hey what happened to the other 2 bugs (13 giant bugs in the exhibit?) Go visit the ant in Hidden Valley and discover the answer.