Post Contributed by Jocelyne Adkins, Program Director:
Today we were so fortunate to host Stephanie Walquist, a native gardener, educator and Beye parent, who joined us to introduce Beye's new native garden. Stephanie was instrumental in the planning and planting of this garden and we were eager for Stephanie to share her knowledge with us.
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| Stephanie with Jadon (left) and Jordan (middle) holding a Luna Moth |
Stephanie began with a short slide show to introduce the life cycle of 3 important butterfly species: The Red Admiral, The Question Mark and The Tiger Swallowtail. She then provided 3 butterfly specimens and 1 moth for the children to observe and to discuss features, similarities and differences.
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| Caroline with Eastern Black Swallowtail |
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| Zebra Swallowtail |
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| Emily with Zebra Swallowtail |
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| Joseph with Dog-Faced Sulpher Butterfly |
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| Stephanie holding Eastern Black Swallowtail |
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| Anika with Dog-Faced Sulpher Butterfly |
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| Dog-Faced Sulpher Butterfly |
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| Nana -Yaa with Luna Moth |
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| closer inspection: underside of a Luna Moth |
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| Caroline and Anika with Zebra Swallowtail |
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| Xantal with Zebra Swallowtail |
Following the study of butterfly specimens, Stephanie provided an
activity to help students and visitors connect specific butterflies with
their host plants in Beye's native garden: Each child reached into a
bag and selected a butterfly image attached to it's host plant. In groups
of 5, Stephanie led students to the garden to find their butterfly's
host plant and to hang the butterfly image on it. This gave students a
direct connection to the plants selected for the native garden and to the beneficial wildlife they will attract to the garden, year after year.
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| Stephanie handing out images of butterflies and their host plants |
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| Joseph with butterfly and host plant sample |
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| Emily with Swallowtail image and host plant specimen |
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| Elise |
While students took turns visiting the garden with Stephanie, we began illustrate native gardens of our own design. Students used colored pencils on trace paper to create a luminous effect (if hung in a window) or students could choose to attach the illustration to colorful cardstock, allowing the selected color to show through the drawing. The completed illustrations were imaginative and quite beautiful ~ do take a look below : )
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| Jadon |
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| Nana-Yaa |
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| Elizabeth |
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| Anika |
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| Elise |
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| Xantal |
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| Leila |
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| Jessica |
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| Emily |
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| Norah |
A very big thank you to Stephanie for her dedicated work in bringing the native garden to life in the Beye community; for her vision to restore plants that were once a part of an expansive Illinois Prairie ecosystem; and for promoting more environmentally sound gardening practices with native plants that require little to no supplemental watering after they have been established; little to no fertilizers (just their own leaf litter); and no pesticides or herbicides. To learn more about native gardening and green living, participate in the "Green Living and Learning Tour" on September 28th, hosted by Green Community Connections:
www.greencommunityconnections.org
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