It is with great excitement and pride that we announce that our Monarch butterfly garden is planted and ready for butterfly business! Thanks to an enormous amount of work by our students, teachers, parents and community volunteers we have finished planting over $2,000 worth of milkweed and nectar plants in our outdoor classroom — the OCC.
We are grateful to Sean Nolan of Sanctuary Native Landscapes for designing our garden, getting plants for us a wholesale prices and teaching the students hands-on how to plant the plants.
We will be watering, weeding and tending so that the roots run deep and the plants thrive. And, God willing, blooms of Milkweed, Wild Geranium, Narrowleaf Blue-eyed grass, Cardinal flower, Aster, Blazingstar, and others will attract butterflies, other pollinators and lots of people to our garden in the Spring.
Monarch butterflies have seen a decline of 97% in the last 2 decades. Sadly, they are in danger of becoming extinct. But there is much people can do right now to reverse this trend! Planting even 100 square feet (10X10) of butterfly friendly plants in your own yard will serve as a much needed habitat and breeding ground for the monarchs on their migratory journey.
Monarchs make the longest migration of any living animal — 4,300km! They travel from Canada, through Fort Wayne, and on to the Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico. This journey takes four generations of butterflies to complete and way stations are needed along the way to provide rest and nutrients.
Concordia Lutheran High School is partnering with many other community entities to accomplish our goals or raising awareness and funds to encourage preservation of this remarkable species. We are working with the Foellinger Freimann Botanical Conservatory, The Little River Wetlands Project, Fort Wayne Trails, and the National Butterfly Center in Mission, TX.
The Monarch Ultra run, will pass through Fort Wayne on September 26 and teachers, administrators and alumni will be running in this event. We are also working with Cinema Center, which will be showing the film “Ay Mariposa,” which highlights the plight and threats to Monarch butterflies September 26-29.
We appreciate prayers for the safety of our runners, the success of our project and the preservation and wellness of the Monarch — one of God’s most remarkable and beautiful creatures! If you would like to be involved contact me at [email protected].
Paula Booth,
Spanish Teacher