THE MONARCH GARDENS
THE MONARCH MEMORY GARDENS To celebrate The Orchards 70th Year in Business , we took on a project that would bring joy to our community AND help the Monarch butterflies . In addition to the many nectar plants that grace our campus every year , we added even more in partner with some milkweed plants . Our maintenance department worked hard to get the spaces tilled for planting . Pancake nursery was a huge help deciding which plants would be best . Once the plants were in , caterpillars started popping up everywhere ! Tom Hineman , who runs a few Monarch waystations , came to see the caterpillars to chrysalis and brought them back for us to release . Dorothy Reynolds even came to tell us all about the Monarch lifespan and explained their journey to Mexico . Our first season with the Monarch Memory Gardens taught us much about the intricate nature of a butterfly . It has been an incredible time sharing in this journey together !
RELEASING BUTTERFLIES
The Orchards has released 30 butterflies to date since our Monarch journey has begun with more caterpillars popping up every day ! Each released by someone different .
Next year , we plan to grow our gardens larger , and expand our waystation to the East Liverpool campus . In addition , we will seek to grow our own milkweed plants , raise Monarch caterpillars from egg and embark on tracking our releases all the way to Mexico . How do you track them you ask ? Continue to follow our journey to find out about Monarch tagging !