Butterfly Garden

Follow the garden's progress from the beginning until now...

Week 1:

In the hot May sun, two wonderful guys from the City of Danbury's Parks & Rec Department roto-tilled a plot of land on the hill in the Library's new parking lot on Bank Street. The following day eight energetic Young Adult Council members under the encouraging guidance of Roanna Metowski, a local butterfly enthusiast, added peat moss, manure and earth worms to the soil.

Orianna Demati and Lisan Do

Week 2:

Wednesday afternoon, May 27th we met again on the hill. This time to begin planting. Under Roanna's watchful eye, the teens planted Anaphalls triplinervis" (Everlasting) "Asclepias Tuberosa" (Butterfly Flower), Aster novi-belgii"(Purple Dome Aster) "Buddleia davidii" (Pink butterfly bush), "Leucanthemum superbum" (Shasta Daisy), ""Red Foxx" (Spiked Speedwell), "Rudbeckia fulgida" (Black -Eyed Susan) and also some fast-blooming zinnas to give the garden a quick punch of color while the other plants mature. The News-Times stopped by and Bob Miller wrote a wonderful article about our garden for the paper. Mark Maleh, a Lehigh University student, interning at the paper took the great photo of two teens hard at work.

End of Week 2:
A visit from some little friends

The 2nd grade class at Immanuel Lutheran School in Danbury has been "growing" 'Painted Lady' butterflies in their classroom. On Friday afternoon (May 30th) the class came to the Junior Library with their "grown" butterflies. First the children looked at the "Children's Butterfly Site" on the Internet with Librarian, Mrs. Westfall, before they took the butterflies to the Butterfly Garden.

The students keep a watchful eye on the butterfly box.

AND...then
Mrs. Dittmar opened the 'Butterfly' box
and let the butterflies free.

We had tons of fun planting the garden. Please stop by and see it soon.

THANK YOU to everyone who gave this project such vitality:
Junior Young Adult Council teens who were not afraid to get dirty and work hard,
Roanna Metowski for her enthusiasm and butterfly expertise,
the City of Danbury's Parks and Recreation Department for preparing the soil,
Joani Takacs for donating the mulch,
Library Administration for unconditional support,
Mr. John Schmuecker, for the WONDERFUL sign,
The News-Times for the wonderful picture and story,
Immanuel Lutheran School's 2nd Graders and their butterflies,
and Bedoukian Research Inc. of Danbury
who provided the Library with a grant for this Science/Gardening project!
Sue Horton, Projects Librarian

*** Visit The Children's Butterfly Site

and learn all about butterflies. ***