Donna,

Good luck with this project. It will be so great for the kids. I'm sure you'll get a lot of help on this wonderful Forum.

mike

I am sure that tdogmom (another poster here)can give you lots of great information as she is also a teacher and has her own garden at school. I had one at my school and the school had a seperate one. Everyone was gungho about the "Butterfly Garden" and how the involved the children would be. Well that last just long enough for the kids to see the caterpillars and butterflies one year and then over the summer the plants died and no one had prepared host plants for the next year and so it went by the wayside for the most part.

Don't get me wrong, it is a great idea but keep in mind that if the maintenance is left to the teachers and kids "as part of the learning", it may not happen. I would make sure whatever is planted there is as low maintainence as possible. Decide what host plants you want and I would choose by what butterflies you see in the area already. Plant plenty each host plant and be prepared to keep seedlings, cuttings going as food sources for them if the teachers want to take the cats into the classrooms to raise. If you are just looking for having nectar plants then you will have lots less work.

General rules for planting nectar plants are to plant several of the same kind together, same color in a diamond shape. The butterflies are drawn in by the mass of color (they don't see color as we do but..) and the fragrance. Look for native plants too since they will do better in times of drought and generally require less care. Tubular flowers are great but I find butterflies also like flat flowers for perching and will also nectar from them. Butterflies like Gulf Frits and Zebra Longwings collect pollen as well and will circle around the head of the flower to get the pollen. Some say you need a rocky area for the butterflies to warm up on in the morning and some sandy wet area for puddling but that all depends on the types of butterflies you have.

You might think about some trellis in the middle with vines, passionvines for host plants, Pipevines but you might lose them in the winter, depending how cold you get there in Jax.

Some plant ideas:

Nectar:
Tall red pentas
Porterweed
Lantana
Buddelia
Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia)
Cosmos (Bright Lights Klonidke are the best)
African Buttercup
Salvias
Golden Dedrop Duranta
Plumbago

Host plants:
Parsley, dill, fennel, rue for Eastern Black Swallowtails
Calico Dutchman's Pipevine for Polydamas Swallowtails
Tomentosa or Frimbrata Pipevine for Pipevine Swallowtails
Passiflora Incarnata ( Maypops) for Zebra Longwings in the shade and Gulf Frits in the sun
Wild Lime or other citrus for Giant Swallowtails
Camphor, Sassafras, Redbay or Spicebush for Spicebush Swallowtails
Milkweed for Monarchs, Queens
Cassia or Senna for Sulphurs
Butterfly Pea Vine for Longtail Skippers

If you have a large area, you could have a "Weedy section" and have Lippia or Matchstick for Crescents, Cudweed for American Ladies, False Nettels for Red Admirals, Peppergrass for Whites

Alot will depend on how much shade you have and how much sun. Some of the above are trees, some are vines, some herbs some weeds!

Check out the FAQ section of this forum (look at the top part above the postings. There is a list of host plants and other great info that will help you get started.

I think it is a worthy project but it is time consuming if it is done right. I kept my small garden up myself with the help of the kids and we raised lots of butterflies over the years. If it is just for appearance, then I would stick with nectar plants and forgo the host plants.

Good luck!
Mary

Whoa, Mary! Right on!! :) Listen to what she's said...believe me, it is definitely a worthwhile project BUT (note the caps), it is 1) expensive, 2) time-consuming, and 3) maintenance is the biggie.

For example, EVERYONE loves having the garden but NO ONE wants to help with the maintenance so guess who is the only one out there doing the weeding? Yep, you got it! I was able to get hubby to come out with me once this year...and then, I found out that last month, mention of our school garden was made in the OC Register so now a local TV crew wants to come out and do a blurb. Sheesh. Guess who now has to go out and do some more weeding and sprucing up of the garden, and school begins, uh, tomorrow? I had done some weeding a few weeks ago but you know how gardens are... ;p

SO, the task is an awesome one from more than one standpoint and well worth the effort but can be quite daunting. Be sure to get a LOT of MANPOWER and COMMITMENT (make that ONGOING commitment!!!!). Talk is cheap. So, be forewarned, my dear!

The principal I worked with at the time (thank goodness SHE's gone) wanted me to extend our garden (it was my idea to have the garden to begin with) but I paid for all the plants and soil amendments and it had already cost me around $1000. Without help, financial and otherwise, it was NOT going to happen. I now have a new principal so it will be interesting this year to see what happens. :) OH, and if you wonder, "Hasn't she asked for help with the weeding?" the answer is yes, but getting the help is a different story.

So, again, start SMALL. You can ALWAYS enlarge it but begin small so that you can actually see what type of real support network you have and whether or not the garden will be maintained. You may want to go with planting only a section for maybe a few butterflies' host plants (make sure you have patches of their host plants) and then some nectar plants. Vines in the back for a host along with some stuff in the front would be an easy way to start. :)

Good luck! And note that even Mary had a SMALL garden...

CalSherry aka tdogmom

Well I guess me being worried was a nice start. These are all issues I will definately have to work with and believe me they are definately concerns about the help. Where I dont mind helping and lanning and even keeping upkeep within reason for the next several years since my daughter just started kindergarden this year I dont want to see it all go to waste. On the same hand I have my own gardens to tend to as well and they are big and ever-changing since I havent decided exactly how it all comes together!

Plese keep the comments comming as they are all helpful.
Donna

What are the dimensions?

I did a pretty big project like this at our school.

tip 1: take your time -- planning, getting funding, and purchasing. Don't let the principal rush you.

Gotta run right now, but here is an image from our garden, after 9 months:

{{gwi:446247}}

{{gwi:520539}}

We are establishing a club -- actually 2, one for parents and one for students to learn about and care for the garden, including assisting classes that want to work with butterflies in the classroom.

Another idea...check if your state has science standards. If so, look into whether or not lifecycles are covered: butterflies and plants included. :) Then, you can cover those standards for those particular grade levels and PUSH it with the teachers... :)

Forgot to mention the watering alone can be time consuming. Our school garden didn't have sprinkler system and as most of Florida, we are on restrictions anyway. Our school garden started out with 4 raised squares that each had nectar and host plants. That did make it easier to maintain and then there was a small pond in the middle where the hose to water with was connected. Mulch was used to keep out the weeds but had to replaced frequently. The whole area was enclosed with a white fence that had hanging baskets (stupid idea since no one every watered them). BTW, the garden is not there anymore - even though it had barely been kept up the last few years, it all had to be disassembled when ANOTHER additional wing had to built to house the growing population and to accodomate the class size policies! They took everything that was still usable - trellis and pond stuff and added it to the reading garden.

My personal garden is also gone. My beautiful dutchman's pipeivne had covered the 6ft metal fencing that enclosed the air conditioning units for my wing. I had kept it so that the guys could get in to service the units. After I left and no one water the vine, the weed patrol came along and SPRAYED it with pesticides! All my nectar plants were also pulled up and so life goes on but with fewer beauties flying around. Whenever I go back, the teachers all ask me what happened to my garden. I feel like saying - "Hey you guys are the ones that have passed by there every day - did you ever stop to see what was going on?" Guess we all have our priorities.

I think you should print the above posts and show them to your principal, so she'll know what she's asking you to do - she probably thinks there's nothing to it.
If it were me, I'd just plant the hardiest form of lantana, which would be the old ham and eggs type or its sports, which are Miss Huff and Sonset, cudweed/gnaphalium spp., and maybe passiflora incarnata/maypops.
Lantana is very drought tolerant, and should be able to live through the hot summer without watering. It's a favorite nectar plant of many butterflies, so it'll attract a lot of them.
Cudweed/gnaphalium pensylvanicum is the type that grows everywhere, including Florida - my daughter lives in Florida, and I found it growing in her yard, and it grows prolifically here. It dies out in the summer, but the basal rosette of leaves resprout in the fall, it gets going real good in winter and early spring, at which time American ladies lay their eggs on it - the children can enjoy watching them grow in their caterpillar nests. It's very drought tolerant.
Passiflora incarnata/maypops is the native type of passionvine that gulf and variegated frits love best - I don't know if you'll get any zebra longwings as far north as you are, but if you do, they love maypops, too. It makes new growth in early March here - I'm in southeast MS only 35 miles from the coast, so we're on about the same latitude. You'll probably get variegated frits in spring, and you may or may not get any gulf frit eggs/caterpillars before school ends, but you'll find the vines covered with them when you go back in September or August. (When I was in school, it always started the day after Labor Day and ended around May 28th - what happened?) P. incarnata is also drought tolerant, and it doesn't need much if any fertilizer, which is also true of lantana and cudweed. You'll need some type of support for it, though. The flowers are beautiful and smell heavenly in the middle of the day's heat!
I can help you to identify cudweed so you can dig some up and plant it, if that's what you decide to do - it spreads by both underground runners and seeds, so once you plant some, you'll get more and more.
I'd keep it as simple as possible, knowing that you're NOT going to get help.
MissSherry

While I was cooking, I was thinking about your school garden, Donna, and I remembered passiflora suberosa. That's the type that grows wild in Florida, at least south and central FL, and I don't think it needs any support, since it's not a vine is it, Mary? I think it's a low-growing spreader. The only concern would be that it may not be cold hardy as far north as you are, but on the plus side, it wouldn't need any support. The frits thrive on it, too.
Another possibility would be rue/ruta graveolens. Rue is drought tolerant, but it prefers some shade - maybe you could plant some in the shade of the already planted plants, like the crepe myrtle? Rue hosts both black and giant swallowtails - I'm raising some GSTs on it right now. The other host plants for BSTs can't tolerate heat, and citrus trees might die in winter, since you're in north Florida.
MissSherry

Forgot all about the pesticides! EEK! Good thinking!

So sorry to hear that everything was razed...what a terrible thing to happen. Typical, though.

We have this awful ant and Black Widow Spider problem at my school. The custodians and office clerical group ALL are aware of my own butterfly garden next to my classroom so they are REALLY good about making sure NOTHING is sprayed around my classroom (I also have a number of 'pets' indoors so do not want any of them dying either). The garden outside-the one I am talking about above, is left alone as well. :)

Possibly you can look for a grant from Wildlife federation or some other group. That would help cover the costs of putting it together.

Penny

Miss Sherry - Suberosa is a vine but it can grow on the ground and on a fence, it grows up in other plants too so it is very versatile. (I am really having problems spelling words today!)

Lowe's is a great place to ask for help with donations. They have had grants for schools before. I don't know if in your city (ST. John's right?) but our City parks department grows lots of its own plants for the medians and parks, etc and they adopted our school playground so it can be used after school and in return they come out twice a year and basically give our grounds a good going over and are always ready to donate plants and trees. Maybe you can tap such a resource there. It also helps cause they know what will grow there locally and can offer manpower too. Worth checking out.

If you do get help from the kids - Lowe's donated kid gloves, aprons, and tools for the kids to use. Home Depot probably does the same.

Hats off to you, Ladybarber! I'll just confirm the previous posts: START SMALL. Our school developed an extremely large habitat for wildlife, complete with native plants for butterflies and birds. While it's worth every smile on a child's face, it's a huge time commitment to keep more aggressive plants from running amok, weeding, watering, etc.

I will second that you'll be surprised at the grants and donations that are available. I donated several native plants from my garden, including all the milkweed, so you may want to tap into the parents. You may also want to see if any scout troops are willing to take on the garden for a service project. Our school even ventured into seed starting.

I still help with our habitat, even though my kids are now in highschool. One teacher takes the kids into the garden to help. Wow! That's a lot of energy. While some plants may get smashed or mistakenly pulled to see their excitement and interest is well worth the effort.

Three last things.

1. Our teacher created an observation book so that visitors or children can write about their visit and what they saw. There are some priceless notes about worms.

2. We sold stone paver kits to raise money. The kids/family could then make the stone with their own decorations to be used for a memory path in the school garden.

3. Our school also built a shed to house all of the tools, etc. with a combination lock.

Good luck!

Cathy in SWPA

My kids' elementary created an "outdoor classroom" and was able to get most or all of it funded by a grant they applied for. Wish I could give you more information about that but I didn't help with that part. We have work days and volunteers keep the gardens mulched and weeded. It's a lot of work. You'll need a crew - maybe a garden club that meets after school.
Here's what comes up when I put "outdoor classroom" and grant on google: Maybe you can find something that will help fund it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Google,com - Outdoor classroom grant

Lowe's = www.toolboxforeducation.com

home depot = www.homedepot.com/impactgrants

Hi, that is a wonderful idea and I do think the children will enjoy it.

One word of caution. My elementary school made a butterfly garden about 12 years ago. I have never seen it in reality. All that is left is nice edging and a boulder with a sign that says "Butterfly Gardens 1995". There are no plants left in it. I don't know exactly what happened, but my assumption is that it didn't get watered in the summertime. It is evident that a lot of work was put into the garden at the time, it just wasn't kept up, and there was not an easy source nearby for watering.

My word of caution is please start small! Don't do it by yourself, you need help! And, make sure it has a source of water in the summertime or all the hard work will be for nothing.

Good luck with your project!

Elaine

There is a nature center that has a butterfly trail in your area. I have NOT been there. I would suggest going there and check it out and maybe contacting someone there. They must have done some research to do this project.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tree Hill Nature Center

Thank you all for your kind words and cautions. As I said I had printed out some things for her on possible plants and basic ideas along with some questions about help from parents, teachers, children involvement and am yet to hear back from her.

The links are very useful and I will definately be looking into them alot further than the basic glance I just gave them. I wasnt aware that there were so many available and Im sure that she wasnt either.

Tree Hill is a wonderful place that the school visits on a regular basis so that may be a plus as well. I hadnt even thought of contacting them..I knew this was the place to ask for help with this project and in the mean while Im gettng lots of tips on my babies too.

Maybe I will start off by doing the bed around the sign and then work on that massive bed in the lot.

Thank you all
Donna