Today, at 4th Grade Garden Club, parent volunteer, Ms. Silvia, shared butterfly eggs, cocoons, butterflies and more.  The group learned about helping the butterfly population. Their natural habitats (filled with food they liked and places to reproduce) are being paved over.  By planting butterfly food plants and habitat plants and protecting these areas for butterflies, students learned they can help the butterfly population survive. 

Hard to believe we are in the middle of autumn and it is going to be over 100 degrees today.  Why, it is only recess at 10:15 and over 90 degrees already.  We made sure to give the garden and fruit trees a good drink of water to help them through this stressful toasty-hot weather.  We also worked hard to clean out planters from dried debris and leaves.  Some of us took a break to grab the magnifying glasses and explore the garden, especially the butterfly garden looking for caterpillars and ladybugs.

It is still as hot and toasty as summer with temperatures in the 90s. We added a scarecrow to brighten up the garden.  Although we are patiently waiting to start planting our cool weather garden, we went through our seed stash and pulled out and planted in six packs some seeds such as beets that would like the cooler weather when it gets here.  The cantaloupe seeds we planted a few weeks ago are loving the warm weather and growing great.  We shall see has the do in the coming months. Sometimes you just have to experiment and see what grows.   Students continue to give the garden a lot of TLC (and much needed water).  

Some desired garden plants such as mint, strawberries, and morning glory, can begin to take over.  We have found this especially true with morning glory vine.  We love the vibrant blue and purple flowers with large  lovely green leaves, but it tends to like to snake out in all directions covering anything in its  path.  So among other garden maintenance, students to cutting back and pulling out much of it. From experience, we know it will continue to flourish in our garden for years to come despite being trimmed back.  So the moral of the story is, consider the growth behavior when deciding what to plant!

Ms. Silvia, a parent volunteer, shared with students how some plants reproduce through seeds.  She reminded students you don't need to go buy seeds or plants, that you can save seeds from the fruit, vegetables, and plants that they already have and replant.  

A group of students stepped away to go help replant the decorative planters that brighten the backside of Rooms 33 and 34 by the Densmore Gate.  They added mums, snap dragons, and pansies alongside the sweet peas that had replanted themselves from last winter.