Museum+of+Naturalsciences

__**BUTTERFLY GARDEN INSTALLATION**__ **- please read carefully and respond!** It is time to start planning your butterfly garden installation! Please review the list of things you’ll need to do to prepare your garden site. That information is here:. We hope you’ve already selected your site and started working on removing weeds. If not, now would be a good time to get rolling!

Good quality soil is key to the success of your garden. Each school can receive up to $500 for topsoil and mulch. If you already have good soil at your site, you may not need to buy additional topsoil, but you might want to supplement your existing soil with compost. If you don’t have good soil, you will need to add a sufficient layer of good quality topsoil (minimum 6 inches) for planting.

Either way, you will also need a truckload of good quality mulch (shredded hardwood mulch is ideal).

To coordinate purchasing of the soil and mulch you can do one of two things. You can pay for it and submit a receipt to us at the Museum for reimbursement. Or you can set up the quantity and delivery with your local vendor and have them contact Melissa Dowland (919-733-7450x613) for payment.

It’s your responsibility to locate vendors in your area for soil and mulch delivery. Your local garden center might be able to offer suggestions. But note that for buying large quantities, it’s typically much cheaper and more efficient to get a truckload delivered rather than buying individual bags from a garden center.

We are meeting next week with staff at the NC Botanical Garden to discuss plant selection. We’ll send you a tentative list of plants after that meeting.

For each school, a team of two Museum staff will bring the plants on the scheduled planting day and work with select groups of students and teachers to plant the garden. We’ve looked ahead on our schedule and here are the dates we currently have available to install your gardens:

September 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27, 28

October 3, 4, 5, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27

November 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9

Please email your first, second, and third date choices (including a start time) as soon as possible. We hope this will allow us to accommodate everyone and have backup options in case of inclement weather or unforeseen scheduling conflicts.

For the planting day, we recommend dividing the time into 20-30 minute increments. During each block we can work with about 10-15 students. The session can be 3-4 hours long. The students will come out to the garden to participate in the digging, planting, mulching, and watering. They should dress in clothes that can get a little dirty. And if you can provide some work gloves, trowels, shovels, and buckets that would be ideal (see for a more complete list of materials we will need available; we recommend borrowers label tools with their name to ensure their return!). Please arrange a schedule for student involvement on that day and email it to us at least a week before the session.

If you need any additional advice, please feel free to contact us (mike.dunn@ncdenr.gov or melissa.dowland@ncdenr.gov)

__**BUTTERFLY GARDEN IMAGES**__



A couple sample pictures of butterfly gardens - one with brick border, one with concrete test cylinder border.

Here is a link to our web site [|www.naturalsciences.org]