Catching up! and Article about the garden in the Monroe Journal

Back in May, just before school got out for summer, the K-3 and K-4 classes planted flowers in the garden.  They had started seedlings in their classrooms.  The zinnias that are now so bright and beautiful (and often covered in butterflies) are some of the plants grown from seed by the children. 

In the fall, a reporter contacted us and asked to do a feature on the garden in the Monroe Journal.  The article came out in November, 2009.  I am going to add the article to the blog.

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Changes in the garden

One new plant in our garden is called Salvia mexicana 'Limelight' (Mexican Sage) It has chartreuse green and violet-blue flowers.

The milkweed seed pods have been bursting open-

The garden has a new sign- thanks to King Glass for letting us have some plexiglass and to Mr. E.T. Nettles for his help in attaching the painted sign to a wood frame!

                                            Lion's Ear is a new addition.

Mexican Bush Sage has been planted to replace the plants that were originally planted.










Gulf Frittillary Chrysalis on fence

                                                                                            

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

The K-3and K-4 classes were excited to see a newly emerged Gulf Fritillary Butterfly.  The butterfly's chrysalis was hanging on a Butterfly Bush located next to the Passion Flower Vine that is the host plant for the Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars.

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars

Our passion flower plant has gulf fritillary caterpillars!


For information about gulf fritillary caterpillars and butterflies: http://www.gardenswithwings.com/butterfly/Gulf%20Fritillary/index.html

Caterpillars in the garden

There are at least 15 black swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel and parsley in the garden. Hopefully, there will be some of the caterpillars and chrysalises in the garden when school starts in 12 days!

For information on Black Swallowtail Butterflies see
http://www.gardenswithwings.com/butterfly/Black%20Swallowtail/index.html

BUTTERFLY WEED AND MONARCH CATERPILLARS

Yesterday, we found two monarch caterpillars on the butterfly weed plant.

The butterfly weed was a new addition to the garden this spring, and it is one of the few plants on which a monarch butterfly will lay its eggs.

For more information on Monarch Butterflies and their life cycle go to:

http://www.gardenswithwings.com/butterfly/Monarch/index.html

Our Next Project!

The present butterfly garden is doing great. This was our first step in creating an outdoor classroom environment. We are going to expand the outdoor classroom to the fenced in area behind the preschool. In that area, we want to build raised beds for various gardens such as: a sensory garden, an herb garden, a vegetable garden, a butterfly garden, and a worm bed. Since this area is already fenced in, the children will be able to be more involved in these projects.

These are some of the items that we are in need of :

- one or two large rubbermaid type containers to hold tools and other items

- bags of fertilizer and black cow
- plants –annuals like zinnias and cosmos
- plants- perennials and herbs
- any flowering plants from your yard that can be divided
- large stepping stones (the concrete ones you can find at Walmart)
- butterfly house
- bluebird house
- watering can
- large terra cotta saucer

- bench

- timbers for raised beds

-volunteers who have tools needed to build the beds.

- water hose that is durable and very long or two hoses that can be connected. (the existing water hose is not long enough and it is full of kinks)

- sprayer for hose

-soaker hose

Portrait Fundraiser

We had a good turnout at the fundraiser today! Thank you to Erin and her parents and to all who took advantage of this opportunity!!

Don't Forget the Portrait Fundraiser on Saturday!

Erin Campbell-Pope, Helen's (in Ms. Amber's K-4 class) mother, and her family are taking spring portraits of the preschool students on Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 10:00 am for K-3 and 10:45 am for K-4.

All the proceeds from this voluntary fundraiser will benefit the butterfly garden. Erin’s parents have generously donated the photography, set up, and most of the printing costs for the portraits. They are delighted to give back to the preschool their granddaughter attends. Students are encouraged to wear their Sunday Best / Easter clothing as the portrait will be shot with a Spring Garden theme. There will be a portrait on display at the front of the preschool which will be an example of the style portrait you will receive at the fundraiser.


Look for the order form coming home with your child. If you want to participate, complete the order form and return with the $15.00 to your preschool teacher. Each Package will include one 5 x 7 and four wallets. Additional photos and sizes can be purchased.

Thanks to Erin and her family for demonstrating the volunteer spirit!

Please take a minute and look at the Campbell’s Fine Portraits website.
campbellsfineportraits.com (601) 798-4103

Flowers are starting to BLOOM

There are some flowers blooming or about to in the garden..

Also, there are some new additions to the garden- some blooming zinnias, milkweed- essential to attract monarch butterflies, and a yellow daisy.

Thank you to the volunteers who have donated pots, soil and plants for container gardens. These will be placed in the garden area this week.

Painting Tiles and Planting Seeds

There are a few projects that we are going to try to do by the end of the month. One is painting some tiles. The garden needs a ‘Butterfly Garden’ sign.  One idea is to have the children in the K-4 classes paint on ceramic tiles, the letters to spell out Butterfly Garden and/or pictures of butterflies, flowers, caterpillars, etc.  

The other project is to start seeds indoors that can be planted by the children in about four weeks.  

Madelyn and Friends

The Madelyn and Friends clothing show and ribbon cutting was this afternoon at the Beehive!

Thank you for everyone who came by and to all who placed an order!!

If you missed the show or want to add to your order, please contact Pattie Welch! The clothes, shoes, and accessories are so cute- and check out the pjs for boys and girls and of course the tutus!!

Thanks again!

Check out the Madelyn and Friends Blog for photos.
http://madelynandfriends.blogspot.com/

What do we need?

We are in need of some items for the garden. It would be great to have these items prior to the open house in April!!



These are some of the items needed:

- one large rubbermaid type container to hold tools and other items
- plants –annuals like zinnias and cosmos
- plants- perennials (Walmart now has a limited selection)
- two or three large pots around 16 inches or more
- potting soil for container gardens
- any flowering plants from your yard that can be divided
- large stepping stones (the concrete ones you can find at Walmart)
- outdoor thermometer
- rain gauge
- butterfly house
- bluebird house- to be placed in another area
- watering can
- Jiffy (or other brand) seed starting kit.
- large terra cotta saucer

We have already had a donation of pine straw! Thank you!!

We also need to have a workday- to clean up the garden, add mulch, fix container gardens, and to put in brick border.

Madelyn and Friends Clothing Show

Pattie Welch, Cami Welch's mom, is hosting a Madelyn and Friends Clothing Show onTuesday, March 17 at the Beehive Coffee & Books in Downtown Monroeville from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.   

A portion of the proceeds of this sale will benefit the Butterfly Garden, so please come and shop!

Madelyn and Friends is owned by Monroeville's Martha Moorer and her daughter Vicki Golden.  

The clothes are precious!

Take a look at their website http://www.madelynandfriends.com/. 

Pattie is giving away a $50 gift certificate -There are several ways to enter this contest- you get a chance to win for doing any of the following:

  visit the madelyn and friends blog and become a 'follower' http://madelynandfriends.blogspot.com/, come to the show, bring someone with you to the show who is new to Madelyn and Friends, sign up to be on Madelyn and Friends email list, and place an order.  

You get a chance to win for doing each of the above!!

We are working on another fundraiser!  

 

Signs of Life

This week I was excited to see that some of the plants in the garden are showing signs of life!  The verbena, butterfly bushes, sweet peas, bog salvia, and parsley made it through the winter.  The fennel we planted last spring has reseeded and there are four or five small fennel plants.  The aster, sedum, coneflower, shasta daisy, daylily, and gerber daisy plants are coming up.  Fortunately, due to the cypress mulch, there are only a few weeds in the garden. 

There are a few projects that will need to be done in the next month. 

The garden needs a ‘Butterfly Garden’ sign.  One idea is to have the children in the K-4 classes paint on ceramic tiles, the letters to spell out Butterfly Garden and/or pictures of butterflies, flowers, caterpillars, etc. 

The Butterfly Garden

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In March 2008, the ground was broken for the Butterfly Garden at the Monroe Academy Preschool.

The goal was to create an outdoor classroom. We thought it would be wonderful for the children to be able to have some hands on involvement in the project. Eventually, we hope that this project will provide the children with a beautiful outdoor classroom.

I am posting a couple of websites that provide information about Outdoor Classrooms.

The Alabama Wildlife Federation has a very helpful website:
http://www.alabamawildlife.org/stewardship/faqs_oc_program.asp
http://www.alabamawildlife.org/pdf/FAQsheet.pdf

The following is from the website:

What is an Outdoor Classroom?

An outdoor classroom site is an outdoor area (or areas) on the school grounds that provides hands-on, outdoor learning opportunities and allows students of all ages to utilize multiple-disciplinary skills including math, science, history, geography, and the language arts in a fun and exciting environment.
An outdoor classroom site is designed to attract wildlife by providing elements crucial to wildlife survival including food, water, cover from predators, and places to raise young.
Outdoor classrooms can include raised bed gardens, vegetable gardens, herb gardens, butterfly gardens, wildflower meadows, theme gardens, forest communities, aquatic studies areas, ponds, bog gardens, courtyards, nature trails, animal tracking boxes, weather stations, and a variety of other components that provide hands-on learning opportunities for students.

One goal is for our school to become a member of the Alabama Wildlife Federation. Membership would supply our school with useful information and opportunities.

Update- We are sending the application to the Alabama Wildlife Federation next week. So, we should have the resources they provide members very soon!

Another great website is: http://www.kidsgardening.com/

There is information regarding grants for schools. We applied for one grant in March 2008; however, we were not chosen as a recipient. Luckily, our current headmaster has been extremely supportive of this endeavor.

After the ground was broken, we prepared the soil and planted the nectar and host plants. We received some plants and mulch from our neighbor, Mockingbird Nursery. The other plants were donated by parents. We did our best to find plants that would attract butterflies and that were appropriate for our area. We also planted mostly perennials which will come back every year.

To see the plants that we planted, scroll down the page to view the document "Flowers in our garden." This document will be updated as new plants are added. It is also a source where the success or failure of the plants can be recorded

Then the fun part! The children in the K-4 classes had been growing seedlings inside for weeks. Each child was able to plant some of these seedlings in the garden.

                                                   placement of plants in March 2008

The students helped by watering the garden. We watched the garden grow, but we did not have butterflies right away. Unfortunately, it took some time for the butterflies to find the plants. We had Fennel, Dill and Parsley planted to attract Black Swallowtail Butterflies.

Here is a link to a site that shows the butterflies that have been sighted in Monroe County: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/map?dc=5676&_dcc=1&si=1




We did have some setbacks during the summer. There was more rainfall than usual, and there is a downspout off the building that floods the area. That coupled with some accidental over watering and four inches of cypress mulch caused havoc on the drought hardy varieties that were planted. In late August, we diverted the downspout and monitored the watering. Luckily, many of the plants revived.

In June and August, we had black swallowtail caterpillars on the Host plants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Swallowtail_Papilio_polyxenes_1700px.jpg
The Black Swallowtail Caterpillar is black yellow and white, but it starts out as an egg that is very small. These photos show some of the transition from egg to caterpillar.
The first photo shows the eggs- they are very small and yellowish in color. The second photo shows an immature caterpillar- they are black with a light ring around the middle. The third photo shows a mature caterpillar.

























The caterpillars that we had in August did not make it- in all likelihood due to pesticides that were used in the area to control ants. In the future, there needs to be a sign to inform anyone spraying to avoid the vicinity of the garden.

Here are more pictures of the garden- note that the zinnias which were planted by the students - were the prettiest and brightest flowers in the garden- and at times there would be ten butterflies in the garden at one time.

Notice the orange butterflies on the flowers.

                                       This butterfly is brown and orange,





Click on the link 'M A Butterfly Garden: Flowers in our garden' to see details of the plants used in the garden.


Microsoft Word - Flowers in Our Butterfly Garden

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