Weeds in the School Garden?

Yes – milkweed, that is! In addition to our vegetable plots, Conserve School has a flower garden to help feed our honeybees and attract native pollinators such as butterflies. These butterfly garden plots include several species of milkweed, which Assistant Head of School Mary Anna Thornton has been monitoring for Monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars, aided by several other staff members.

Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata

Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa

When our new group of students arrives for CS5, they’ll take over this project as part of their environmental science class. The data collected is submitted to the University of Minnesota’s Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. This is just one example of how Conserve School students participate in real-world science and conservation!

~Graduate Fellow Rebecca