Tapestry of Faith: Exploring Our Values Through Poetry: A Program for High School Youth

Handout 2: Tips On Caring For Your Butterfly Garden

Welcome to your butterfly garden! The garden needs you to take care of it. Here are a few easy ways to care for your garden:

  • Because many plants are poisonous, never taste or eat any plant part.
  • Do not walk among the plants or step on plants. A broken branch wounds the plant.
  • Please let the flowers remain for the butterflies and other students to enjoy; do not pick them.
  • If you find an uprooted plant that a dog or other animal has dug up, please replant it. Always set plants in the soil at the same depth as before.
  • Please remove paper trash that might blow into the garden.
  • The better you care for your garden, the prettier it will be.
  • If you see a caterpillar on a plant, don't disturb it. The plant is its food. The caterpillar will molt its skin as it grows into a larger caterpillar, and then molt again when it enters the pupal phase (an inactive stage). After a period of time, a winged adult butterfly or moth will emerge from the pupa.

A good book to help you identify the butterflies in your garden is The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies by Robert M. Pyle (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995).

Enjoy!