This post is sponsored by Bayer. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Make a Monarch Butterfly Container Garden with the kids and secretly know that they are not only learning about science and experiencing sensory stimulation, but also helping save a species!
I love gardening… Well, I love container gardening.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a certified green thumb, but I love the satisfaction of caring for a plant and watching it grow.
We have slowly been adding to our vegetable container garden over the past three years and this year the kids and I decided to start a Monarch Butterfly Container Garden in the front yard!
Getting the kids involved with outdoor planting, gardening, care-taking of plants and animals is highly recommended by this mom of six. It get’s out energy, gives lots of sensory stimulation, and they are learning loads and loads of science!
Butterflies are natural pollinators and having them around will make our vegetable garden produce a lot! So, this was a win decision for us!
We specifically chose the monarch butterfly after a little research and learning that their population is sadly declining because of a lack of available habitat. Monarch butterflies are close to being on the endangered species list and that made both myself and my children sad.
While doing our research we found an app that helps track the amount of habitat available for monarchs to help the population recover, HabiTally. It helps track data on monarch butterfly habitat in our country that will help determine whether the monarch butterfly will need to be put on the endangered species list.
Bayer Bee Care Program is behind the app HabiTally and has been supporting the health of bees and other pollinators by finding solutions to the challenges they face; lack of adequate food and habitat is one of those challenges.
After having the kids research what the best habitat plant for monarch butterflies was, we picked up supplies and planted both seeds and small milkweed plants.
Milkweed is a primary source of habitat for monarchs. They will only lay their eggs on milkweed plants and monarch caterpillar’s eat only milkweed. You can find baby milkweed plants at a garden center or order milkweed seeds online.
Make sure to plant your milkweed in direct sun! They love sun and not too much water.
We first planted seeds using potting soil and a cardboard egg carton. The seeds take several days to germinate and grow, so be aware that it will take time.
After gardening with kids for several years, I highly suggest doing a combo of both seeds and baby plants. They will see instant results from planting the seedling and also learn just how long it takes for a seed to sprout and grow.
Just a few days after planting our milkweed, we saw monarch butterflies!
Sadly, I was not fast enough with the camera to catch them on film!
I love the option of containers for gardening as it allows flexibility on moving the plant to a different area of your yard with ease. If I am not confident of the sun to shade ratio, I can see how the plant is doing and move it to a different location without digging it up and replanting.
The kids were excited to plant our garden and went crazy when we spotted our first monarch butterfly hovering on the milkweed flowers. They are now reminding me to check on our butterfly garden!
We logged in our butterfly habitat on HabiTally and check back to see how many acres have been registered once a week right now.
Making a Monarch Butterfly Container Garden with the kids right now is a perfect way to learn, have fun, and save the butterflies this spring and summer.
Are you going to plant a garden this year?
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