Owner of Flora Farm Butterfly
Mrs.Elizabeth Lumawig Heitzmann
For Flora Farm, the idea of butterfly breeding as a business did not come overnight. It was borne out was of a lifetime of exposure to butterflies and other Philippines insects, its preservation and appreciation and the desire to share what the Philippines have to every Filipino and the rest of the world.
Elizabeth Lumawig and Thierry Heitzmann were brought together by their deep seated interest in butterflies.
Beth's late father, Romeo Lumawig of Boac, Marinduque, is an internationally-acknowledged collector of butterflies and various insects.
He worked with scientists and insect collectors all over the world providing them with various species from the Philippines some of which himself discovered including one local butterfly he named after Elizabeth- the Atrophaneura semperi lizae. Various butterflies and beetles were named after his wife and children.She grew up in a household philosophically and economically involved in the insects that their father collected which he turned into a commercial activity in 1971.
He worked with scientists and insect collectors all over the world providing them with various species from the Philippines some of which himself discovered including one local butterfly he named after Elizabeth- the Atrophaneura semperi lizae. Various butterflies and beetles were named after his wife and children.She grew up in a household philosophically and economically involved in the insects that their father collected which he turned into a commercial activity in 1971.
The late Romeo Mangaring Lumawig, father of Elizabeth Lumawig Heitzmann in one of his catching trips.
This photo was taken in Brgy.Ilaya Cawit, Boac Marinduque in 1972
In college Beth took up BSE Sec.Education major in Biology and minor in Earth Science and enrolling in Entomolgy subject at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.
Her interest on butterflies has also been influenced by her loving mother,Gertrudes Ocampo Lumawig who hails from Boac,Marinduque. Shown here with Beth's only daughter Audrey Heitzmann.
Thierry Heitzmann was a business contact of Romeo Lumawig. He is a French entomologist who started collecting insects particulary butterflies, at the age of 10. Such as his passion that he has travelled in all continents of the world to pursue various species of “papillon”. As faith would have it, Beth and Thierry married and together they put up Flora Farm and established the first butterfly house in the Philippines at the Lung Center Compound in Quezon City. The facility operated from 1996-2001 then transferred to Manila Seedling Bank and Environment Center. The garden lasted for 4 years. In 2006, a new butterfly house was put up in a new location inside the Quezon Memorial Circle. Simultaneous with this was the construction of her other facilities at the La Mesa Ecopark, Paradizoo in Mendez Cavite, at the Burnham Park for the Panagbenga Festival and at Baguio Convention center. She has introduced butterfly breeding and was consulted on the establishment of butterfly house at the Malay Tree House in Aklan. She became a consultant on livelihood project on Butterfly breeding of Sagittarius Mines in Tampakan, General Santos City. She has also given seminars at the PNOC now EDC and Baler provincial workers and later on helped them on the construction of the butterfly gardens at Geothermal Production Field located in Palayan, Manito Albay and at the Ermita Hill, Baler , Aurora respectively. She conducted seminar on Trainers Training of Butterfly Farming for Watershed management Department Personnel of the National Power Corporation at NPC Training Center, Bagac, Bataan.
The current existing butterfly garden being maintained by her is the butterfly garden at the Forest Adventure Park, Ilanin Forest , Subic Bay Freeport Zone of which she is a Director and present Manager of the area. The facility opened in 2004 and is composed of around 4 hectares.Visitors can walk through the entomological trail where one can make see the 3 pyramids and 1 butterlfy dome. It is now being developed and will be re-opened by early 2011. One can stay at the Picnic Area, then proceed to the Arthropod Museum housing various dried beetles. Scorpions, spiders, leaf insects, walking sticks leaf insects and other interesting insects.
