Third-Graders at an elementary school with a proud green tradition plan to provide a haven for local pollinators, especially butterflies, while educating their peers and the community about the importance of biodiversity and conservation. The butterfly garden will serve as a sustainable space that will complement the future restoration of our cherished Food Forest, which was partially razed for school renovations.
We plan to create a school garden of native flowering plants and nectar sources to support local butterfly populations and other pollinators. We will encourage family and community members to participate in the garden creation, maintenance, and educational events to raise awareness about the role of pollinators and the importance of native habitats. The garden will include interpretive signs created by students to educate visitors and foster a greater sense of connection to our environment. The butterfly garden will serve as an outdoor classroom for the school and community members, strengthening our legacy of environmental engagement.
Our group identified native host and nectar plants to support local populations of butterflies and other pollinators, particularly those known to be endangered, such as the Atala butterfly. We worked with a parent volunteer and local landscaper to create a landscape design for the school's courtyard garden, purchased the plants, and persuaded families and other volunteers to install the plants on a weekend workday. Funds provided by the grant covered some of the cost of the plants and mulch, but other materials were donated by the parent owner of a landscape company, and other parents donated garden soil and mulch. Only one half of the courtyard space was able to be completed with the funds available. We are discussing fundraising and other funding sources in hopes of completing the second half of the courtyard in the coming school year.
Through this project we learned the importance of working together to accomplish a shared mission, and communicating excitement for that mission to generate support.
If we did this project again, we would invite more outside experts to share information with us about specifics of landscape design and installation, break the project into more manageable steps, and incorporate more opportunities for fundraising.
Our favorite part of the project was observing butterflies and other pollinators visiting the beautiful planted garden, and celebrating it at a schoolwide Earth Day assembly.
Children enjoyed researching and creating PowerPoint presentations to learn and share information about pollinator gardens and local populations of pollinators. Others created skits and speeches to share at an Earth Day assembly.
