For the third year running, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens will host educator and nature photographer Samuel Jaffe and The Caterpillar Lab, Aug. 27-31. This indoor/outdoor exhibit will highlight the diversity and ingenuity of some of New England’s most unusual caterpillars. What is usually a casual drop-in experience, however, will take on a different format this year.

“We really love the work Sam Jaffe and The Lab do—it aligns with our mission, and it’s such a valuable experience for anyone of any age, from young children to seasoned biologists,” says Daniel Ungier, Director of Education at CMBG.

This year, due to circumstances surrounding the pandemic, once at the Gardens, guests will be asked to visit the Education Center to sign up for entry into the indoor portion of the exhibit. Highlights of the residency include a large-screen projection of The Caterpillar Lab’s digital microscopes and many dozens of species showcased in open-air displays, including enormous giant silk moth caterpillars, fierce-looking snake-mimicking caterpillars, convincing twig-mimicking caterpillars, and bizarre legless slug caterpillars. Witness rare moments of metamorphosis, ecological relationships, and parasitism play out first-hand.

A nonprofit learning facility, The Caterpillar Lab is a functioning caterpillar-rearing, researching, photographing, filming, and educating facility. Director Jaffe’s passion for the natural world finds itself in good company at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. “The Caterpillar Lab is all about finding wonder in the unexpected,” says Jaffe. Accessibility to caterpillars is what makes the Lab residency at the Gardens an exciting, thoroughly unique family-friendly event, encouraging independent thought and empowering discovery.

The exhibit, free with Gardens admission, invites children and adults alike to visit the lab-in-residence, see live caterpillar displays, take part in innovative programing, witness moments of metamorphosis playing out first-hand, and learn about caterpillar rearing. This year, a Caterpillar Walk will also be on offer, Aug. 28-31, from 4-5 p.m. Participants can join Jaffe on a search of the Gardens for native caterpillars and other insects, discovering how these creatures live in the wild. Jaffe will outline how The Lab finds its caterpillars, discuss host plants and parasitoids, and share caterpillar-finding secrets from one of the foremost caterpillar hunters in the world. For more information on this guided walk, visit MaineGardens.org