Carmel Girl Scout troop 1166 received a micro-grant to create a butterfly garden at Clay Middle School’s outdoor Eco-Lab. The Clay Middle School Outdoor Ecology Laboratory was created to promote the study of nature, natural history, ecology, and related areas. Used by Science classes and the Ecology Club, it is located on the east end of the Clay Middle School campus. The butterfly garden will provide Clay Middle School with a hands-on, natural environment to study nature and life cycles. It will also give the butterflies a perfect place to live and reproduce, helping our environment in many ways.

The girl scouts cleared an area of the eco-lab for their garden before tilling, planting, mulching, and watering their plants.

Healthy butterfly populations attract and sustain healthy populations of beneficial insects/organisms as well as provide food for birds, lizards, mammals, and more. These in turn help control garden pests; most butterfly nectar sources also attract beneficial insects.

Native plants are hardy, drought-resistant, disease and pest resistant, and adapted to our region. Therefore, they perform better under local conditions.

Clay Middle School Butterfly Garden- BEFORE.

Nature is a big part of our everyday life. We affect it and it affects us! The outdoor Eco-lab allows students to explore, document, test, and gain knowledge about the big world around us.

Ecosystems are a complex and delicate balancing game. The addition or removal of one species affects many other species with which it might compete for or provide food.

Troop 1166 planted Snowflake Viburnums, Butterfly Bushes, Day Lilies, Black-Eyed Susans, Purple Coneflowers, and Butterfly Weed.

Clay Middle School Butterfly Garden – AFTER. Great work, Girl Scout Troop 1166!