Residents on the island of Samsø are trying to turn it into a “butterfly island” by filling private gardens with specific nectar and host plants. More than 100 gardens have now signed up to the citizen-led project.
Cecil Rye Olsen lives on Samsø, where she and her neighbors run the project “Sommerfugle-Ø Samsø”. As DR reported on August 15, 2026, the work has been under way since last year.
The initiative is organized through a Facebook group of the same name, which had around 700 members when DR published its article. Per DR, more than 100 gardens on the island have formally registered and are planting to attract and support butterflies.
Two types of plants are central to the method. Nectar plants feed adult butterflies, while host plants are where eggs are laid and where larvae feed. According to DR, the orange tip butterfly, known in Danish as Aurora, mainly uses garlic mustard as its host plant.
The aim is for each small garden plot to become part of one large, connected habitat for Denmark’s butterfly populations. DR cites Danmarks Naturfredningsforening, which assesses that many native Danish butterfly species are threatened, vulnerable or locally gone.
The story is tied to a new episode of DR’s gardening podcast “Signes Have”, in which host Signe Lindkvist visits Cecil Rye Olsen’s garden on Samsø. During the visit, the two spotted a marsh fritillary, in Danish okkergul pletvinge, which DR uses to illustrate the project’s goals.
Coverage elsewhere has been limited. The site Naturbeskyttelse.dk wrote on August 9, 2026 that more than 80 garden owners were planting host and nectar plants, and pointed readers to the DR podcast episode and the project’s Facebook page. The difference in numbers appears to reflect growth in sign-ups over the following week.
The project’s own community page on the biodiversity platform Arter, updated on July 31, 2026, sets out the formal purpose. It describes building a mosaic of habitats, green corridors and what it calls nectar buffets, where butterflies and other insects can live and reproduce.
That page also states a longer-term goal of planting fennel widely across the island. The stated ambition is to eventually be permitted to reintroduce the swallowtail butterfly, known in Danish as svalehalen. No official permission for a reintroduction is documented in the available coverage.
Cecil Rye Olsen encourages residents to bring in neighbors and whole streets, and to draw up joint lists of which host plants each garden already has. She notes that neighborhoods can also coordinate bulk purchases of plants, and that gardens do not need identical species.
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She acknowledges that the effort benefits other insects as well, not only butterflies. Keeping the focus narrow, she says, is powerful when it comes to getting people involved.
