Andrew Cronk, 16, is as rare among teenage guys as the giant swallowtail is in Colorado.

The Sand Creek High School junior has been hoping for years to spot the butterfly with the 8-inch wingspan, but the insect isn’t native to Colorado. No worries; plenty of other species keep Andrew’s attention. He’s been interested in butterflies for as long as he can remember.

“My mom thought it was a phase,” he said.

It wasn’t.

“Since he was 5, Andrew could tell you all about butterflies,” wrote his mom, Shay Cronk, in her nomination of Andrew as a Gazette Great Kid.

Last summer, Andrew bred two butterflies in his garden. Soon, “he had over 100 butterflies that we watched grow in their different stages and finally into beautiful butterflies,” his mom wrote. “It is something that not everyone has the privilege to see and experience.”

This school year, Andrew started a gardening club at Sand Creek with the goal of creating a way station for monarchs, but he said the club “didn’t really take off.” He thinks he could have advertised it better, but a few of his friends joined, and they’re growing some plants.

“We just hang out while we’re planting, and listen to music. Nothing too formal,” he said.

A way station would provide a rest stop for monarchs traveling between Canada and Mexico, Andrew said.

Attracting specific butterfly species to a garden requires knowledge about the insects and the plants they like most. A successful butterfly garden includes nectar plants, for adults to eat, and host plants, for offspring. For example, Andrew planted dill, fennel and oregano as host plants for black swallowtail caterpillars. Once the swallowtails are adult butterflies, they prefer nectar from plants including goldenrod and dogbane.

Andrew said color scheme is also a factor in planting a butterfly garden. “Some butterflies like stronger colors.”

Andrew got his 9-year-old nephew interested in butterflies.

“He’s like my little apprentice,” Andrew said.

This summer, Andrew plans to help his aunt – who, along with his grandma, taught him about gardening – to build a pond and plant a xenia garden. Xenias, he explained, are nectar plants that attract monarchs and other species.

Also in his summer plans: visiting Kansas, where “I’m hoping to find a few more species,” he said.

That includes the more elusive ones.

“The No. 1 butterfly I’m hoping to catch this summer is the giant swallowtail. I’ve tried in past years, but I’m hoping this will be the year.”

Q&A

Favorite butterfly

“Probably my top three would be the black swallowtail, the tiger swallowtail and the painted lady, generally because those are the species I find around here the most.”

Favorite class

“Science, of course.”

Toughest thing about high school

Getting to class on time.

Study habits

“I don’t study too much, but I seem to do just fine.”

Future plans

He wants to go to college for entomology (the study of insects) and lepidopterology (the study of butterflies and moths).

Andrew’s garden at the beginning of spring. Photo by Courtesy of Shay Cronk

Andrew Cronk Photo by Courtesy of Shay Cronk

A butterfly in Andrew’s garden. Photo by Courtesy of Shay Cronk