Airplanes In The Garden — Kids, Butterflies, and Summer Fun

parent , grandparents , aunts , uncles , and ingroup counselors ! We have n’t hit the solstice yet , but Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer . Time to intend about what the kids will be up to for the next few month . Would you like to hive off them aside from brain - dull , pollex - mashing television games and get them into the garden for some adept clean dirty sport ? Then flip loose a transcript of Joan Z. Calder ’s book , Airplanes In The Garden : Monarch Butterflies Take Flight , and get ready for activity .

I ca n’t believe of a more rewarding , long - lasting summer scheme for entertaining ( and stealthily train ) youngsters than interpret this fancifully illustrated , winsomely written , instructional ledger . It ’s about Sergio and Stanley , a duad of monarch caterpillars who come out one day in a young girl ’s garden .

The story opens with pigtailed Bonnie delighting in a belittled squadron of graceful monarchs waft through her family ’s garden . When her mom asks her what she ’s up to , Bonnie replies , “ mammy , there are airplanes in the garden ! ” Her fertile imagination see the flowers as airport , where butterfly break up up “ baby and moms and dads to take them on a trip . ”

Mom seems to have a pretty good handle on butterfly aliveness cycle ( she must have been the lead pupil in her bugology class ) , and explains to her daughter how momma butterflies lie diminutive white-hot eggs under milkweed farewell . And how slight , stripy caterpillar emerge , turn over into chrysalises , only to reappear as delicate butterfly .

Bonnie picks out two favorites , names them Sergio and Stanley , and follows their metamorphosis until the day her be - fly friends take flight , filling the garden with “ clouds of beat wings . ”

Here , Bonnie ’s story end , but the book continues with mapping showing the migratory route monarchs follow at unlike times of the year , and a page load up with fascinating facts about these wonders of nature . ( Bonus for grown - ups : “ Monarchs taste with their metrical unit ” is the ideal iceboat at swanky cocktail parties . ) There are links to utile resources , including the PBS NOVA episode , “ Journey of the Butterflies ” , and the University of Kansas’Monarch Watch website .

If you find yourself motivated to start a butterfly stroke garden , the book ends with instruction for growing your own butterfly haven , including the adept food plants for adults ( ambrosia - producing ) and caterpillars ( they ’re leaf - munchers ) .

Joan Calder is a passionate horticulturist and garden designer living in Santa Barbara , CA ( hey , so do I ! ) , She cope a glasshouse for the Department of Ecology , Evolution and Marine Biology at the University of California , Santa Barbara , and nurtures a butterfly garden . The author loves chew the fat libraries , botanic garden , and schools , teaching children and adults about the habit and charm of butterfly .

As piquant and well - compose as the leger is , it’sCathy Quiel’sgiddily rendered , quirky water - colors that will keep readers poring over each page . Her color are enchanting and plenteous , and every page is inhabit with grinning have little “ asides ” , like a ladybug flight of stairs tender balancing a cheese sandwich on her back .

I desire to seeAirplanes in the Gardenin homes , library , classrooms , and greenhouse . When that ’s done , I go for to hear about well - eff , slightly soiled , brave out copy of this book determine their way outside and into garden . And when the illusion is complete , the easygoing fluttering of frail , but hard - working orange and black offstage .

If you receive yourself in San Francisco in mid - July do n’t miss two ( count them , TWO ! ) opportunity to hear me speak . I ’ll be at theSan Francisco Conservatory of Flowers , Thursday evening , July 14 , presenting a live version of Crimes Against Horticulture : When Bad Taste Meets Power Tools . To top it off , the indoor garden will be in the thick of a Wicked Plants display , enliven by bestselling source Amy Stewart ’s book .

Two days later ( Saturday , July 16 , at 11 am ) , I ’ll dazzle attendee with a planting intent workshop at the legendaryFlora Grubb Gardens , only the coooooolest nursery in this part of the beetleweed . ( Read my recent clause )

More detail to come , but cross off your calendar and start the word . I ’ll be give away free copies of Fine Gardening Magazine and would hump the opportunity to say hello in someone .

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