We are a real farm- we just have tiny livestock! We are USDA-certified and have a containment room for exotic species, also known as the insectarium. We have a newly renovated insect rearing lab where we breed our own stock of regional native butterflies for exhibits at zoos, botanical gardens, and conservatories across the nation. Come tour the Insectarium to learn about and have a close-up encounter with the fascinating insects.
The flight house and pollinator gardens are open seasonally from May through October. The outdoor flighthouse is used to rear larger butterfly and moth species, but we also allow visitors to go in and enjoy it! It’s always free to walk through our flight house; you'll find beautiful pollinator-friendly flowers and plants in bloom, as well as a variety of native butterflies. In October, our flight house morphs into a spider house where visitors can walk through fall blooms and see harmless spiders creating beautiful webs!
We sell seed, plants, and flowers in the Spring, with a variety of annual and native plants that support pollinators, beneficials, and other invertebrates. Our plants are grown with good bugs and love; no chemical pesticides are used to grow our gardens.
You can find us in a historic building in the Shelby Park neighborhood. We feature unique products from American small businesses and fair-trade imports, including everything from butterfly jewelry and preserved insect specimens to garden supplies, home goods, books, and toys. We also offer seasonal flower and vegetable seeds, along with a large selection of native and annual potted plants that support butterflies, pollinators, and other beneficial insects.
The Idlewild team is a small but dedicated group, all united by their love and appreciation for arthropods. Established in 2015 by Louisville native Blair Leano Helvey, Idlewild raises a variety of butterfly and moth species for exhibitors like the Louisville Zoo and many others across the United States. Because part of our mission is to educate the public about how incredibly important invertebrates are, we have been welcoming curious visitors for over a decade!
Idlewild is owned and operated under the parent company of Entomology Solutions, LLC., founded by Leano Helvey in 2009, which specializes in helping commercial growers, greenhouses, and nurseries implement biological pest control as an alternative to chemical insecticides. Leano Helvey received her B.S. in Agriculture with an emphasis in Entomology from the University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture, where she also worked as an insect physiology lab technician and learned to raise insects. Her fascination with insects began when she was a little girl exploring her own backyard.
