For their Carmel Green Teen project, members of Carmel Girl Scout troop 1166 chose to revamp a butterfly habitat reintroduction area at Carmel’s Carey Grove Park. The girls worked on the garden over a period of several weekends in May, 2010. A well-planned butterfly garden becomes a small, but representative sample of the surrounding habitat and as such provides a safe haven for butterflies and other wildlife to gather, seek shelter, acquire food and water, reproduce and build populations; do not underestimate the importance of even a small garden.

The girl scouts weeded, edged, tilled, dug-up dead plants, planted new ones, mixed soils and mulched.

Butterfly Gardens attract wildlife. They bring butterflies and other wildlife into the area for purposes of enjoyment, observation, study, and photography.

The girls in Girl Scout troop 1166 worked hard to restore and renew the butterfly habitat garden.

Carey Grove Park Butterfly Garden- BEFORE.

Working with guidance from the Carmel-Clay Parks Department, they planted Butterfly Bushes, Snowflake Viburnums, Day Lilies, Black-Eyed Susans, Butterfly Weed, and Purple Coneflowers.

Butterfly gardens gather the interest of humans, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The birds and insects come in search of the sweet nectar and we humans are attracted to the bright flowers.

Second to bees, butterflies are important for pollination for our food sources. They are also a good indicator of our environmental health.

Carey Grove Park Butterfly Garden- AFTER. Great work, Girl Scout Troop 1166!