ACTIVITY 3

Create a Butterfly Garden

Teaching Objectives:

1. Students will do research and determine what is needed to have a successful butterfly garden in their area.
2. Students will determine the feasibility of creating a butterfly garden at the school including:
   • The size of the area to be developed
   • The type and cost of the plants to put in the garden
   • The amount of maintenance that will be required in the garden
   • The ways students will maintain the site
   • The best time to plant the garden
3. Students will select a site on the school grounds and secure permission to use it for a butterfly garden.
4. Students will raise the money for the plants to be put in the garden, either through donations or fund-raising projects.
5. Students will work out a schedule for preparing, planting, and maintaining the garden.

Materials Needed:

• Plot of ground or plant containers
• Method for watering the soil (faucet, hose, watering cans, etc.)
• Garden tools (hoes, rakes, etc.)
• Plants
• Fertilizer

Procedure:

Have the students research what it takes to have a successful butterfly garden. Keep in mind that a garden can be a relatively short-term project involving seasonal annual plants, or this can become a major undertaking involving plantings in a site that will remain a relatively permanent fixture on the school grounds or elsewhere. The sites on the Internet listed below have information on the subject of butterfly gardening, plants to incorporate in a garden, and insects that attack different plant species:

How to Make Butterfly Gardens

Butterfly Gardening in Florida

Butterfly Basics

Children's Butterfly Site

Totem Photos (thumbnail images of many flowers)

Give Me a Home Where the Butterflies Roam (Smithsonian site)

Butterfly World

Gardening with Butterflies in Mind

Home Horticulture (Plants and the insects that attack them)

Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia (Possible site for a wonderful field trip)

Make a list of the things needed at a site for a butterfly garden. Emphasize that careful planning is the key to a successful project.

Invite someone knowledgeable about butterflies who lives in the community or surrounding area to come to the class and speak about creating a garden. Here Dr. George Hurst, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries at Mississippi State University, talks to local students about his butterfly garden.

Involve the students in the actual purchasing, planting, and maintaining of the plants that go into the garden. There are many magazines which discuss gardening and garden plants. Have the students do research to discover what plants will thrive in their locale. Some magazines to look at are:

• Southern Living
• Martha Stewart's Living
• House and Garden
• Family Circle
• Woman's Day
• Good Housekeeping

Record the species of butterflies that visit the garden. Assign times for students to sit and observe which insects visit the garden and make notes of those visits. Accurate record keeping will enable the students to see the success of their project. Here Dr. Hurst and the students walk through his garden looking for butterflies.

Supplemental Activities:

Have the students practice scientific observation and notetaking by recording the steps involved in establishing the butterfly garden and noting the species of butterflies that visit the garden.

Use a camera to record the steps in the butterfly garden project. A videotaped record could be made and the students allowed to check out the tape and view it with family and friends. Photographs could be used on a timeline, bulletin board, or poster describing the project, or put in a photo-journal. Digital camera images would allow the class to add the images to a home page format.

The June 1997 Southern Living article "A Box for Butterflies" (Vol. 32 No. 6, pages 100-101) gives instructions for building a box in which to watch caterpillars grow. Older students might be able to construct the box themselves, but younger students would need to enlist the aid of parents. Detailed instructions are given, making this a good source for an extended activity that students may elect to do as a class or as individuals at home.