Starke is a small town in the middle of north Florida.  The local Recreation Center boasts after-school care and has a fenced baseball diamond.  A paved walk curves around half of the diamond, outside the fence.

 

The city decided to install a butterfly garden in planters along the curved walk.  Inmates from a local prison tend to the grounds, often mowing garden areas to the ground.  Raised planters were chosen to hold the butterfly gardens.

 

A wire butterfly egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult Black Swallowtail were created, one stage for each garden.  Signs were made to educate visitors about the life cycle of butterflies.

The egg garden focused on several native host plants as well as parsley and fennel.

The caterpillar garden grew a passion vine over the wire butterfly.  A butterfly bush and lantana offered nectar to visiting butterflies and other insects.  Also included were milkweed and passion vine.

 

The chrysalis garden grew milkweed, pipevine, and nectar plants.

 

The winged adult garden grew milkweed, parsley, and fennel, encouraging adults to visit and lay eggs.  Nectar plants were included in the planter.

 

There was a closer focus on butterflies that are abundant in the area instead of those that are rare.  The purpose of the garden was education and enjoyment.  The more butterflies that visited, the greater the education and enjoyment would be for visitors.