Butterfly Garden at Blackshear Elementary

Blackshear Elementary Fine Arts Academy assigned a group of first and second grade teachers to a Monarch Team to create an outdoor learning space for the students. Kasey Kirk, a special education teacher at the east Austin school reached out for volunteers to help with a new butterfly garden. In order to qualify for a grant to fund the materials, the garden had to follow these parameters:

-Create a to-scale base map of the proposed area

-300 square foot area

-Plants to be native to Austin

-Mulched​ -Install garden by November to support Monarch migration

-2 year maintenance plan

I offered to render the base map, design the planting plan, create a budget, and lead the installation. Some parents in the PTA requested more color and interest in the front of the school, so when I walked through the design scope with Ms. Kirk, I suggested the sunny spot around the historical marker at the main entry.

I rendered a planting plan with nine pollinator-attracting species and top-dressed the bed with 1/2" washed granite gravel.

Thanks to the parent, student, teacher, and community volunteers, we were able to demo the space, layout the fabric, and install the vegetation on the October 14, 2017 workday, then a second group came out to install a block limestone border around the perimeter on the October 28th workday. We also appreciate the generous material donations from Mike Lung Wholesale Nursery, Native Texas Nursery, and Whittlesey Landscape Supply! And thanks to one of our clients for the steel art piece donation!

*Click on slideshow for progress photos

Pollinator-attracting plants specified in the garden:

*Click gallery for plant common and botanical names