The Doyle Community Park and Recreation Council, in partnership with the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department, recently renovated an area of Doyle Park creating a butterfly garden. The garden has many flowering, butterfly-friendly plants including milkweed – an essential plant for Monarch butterflies. Milkweed is the host plant for Monarch butterflies and the only food Monarch caterpillars can eat. The North American Butterfly Association certified the Doyle Park butterfly garden this summer as a garden that “provides the resources that increase the world’s population of Monarch butterflies.”

In addition to creating a beautiful and peaceful oasis for Doyle Park users, the garden is an educational experience for children. Children from Doyle School’s Prime Time program and Doyle Park’s Kidz Kamp learned about Monarch butterflies at the celebration of the garden in October. Ann Baldridge, Education Coordinator from the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County, talked about the life cycle of the butterflies in the garden and showed the children the plants that are so important to the Monarch butterfly. The children were enthralled to see Monarch butterflies enjoying the garden. At the celebration, the children created a mural about the garden, which is on display in the lobby of the Doyle Park Recreation Center.

Click here to view photos of the butterflies in action.