Bringing Life To PDC!
Karen is the Yoga, Art, and Nature Education teacher at Paradigm Development Center (PDC). She is also an avid naturalist and animal lover. Her heart for the wellness of others and the Earth is valuable and effective within the PDC school environment. She has inspired us to see things in the Earth that need to be seen.
Due to her vision and effort, this year PDC will be hosting Monarch butterflies migrating from Mexico. Karen has spent hours taking courses and researching which specific plants would be most beneficial to host the butterflies as they migrate through Texas destined for Canada. She taught the students how to recognize eggs and distinguish larval (caterpillar) instars of Monarch butterflies. She also instructed on Monarch anatomy, possible extinction due to environmental factors, lifecycle, and migratory patterns. She walked each student through the cold stratification process and talked with them about how important milkweed is to Monarch butterflies (Milkweed is the only food Monarchs eat.). During this hands-on activity, she showed them how to successfully cold stratify milkweed seeds.Monarch Butterly / Sensory Garden
The Project
Karen is leading the planning, organizing, and building of the PDC Monarch butterfly/Sensory garden that will be hosting migrating Monarchs. Thus far, she and her volunteers have planted Pentas, Lantana, Black-Eyed Susans, Copper Canyon Daisy, Blue Porter Weed, Jasmine, a variety of milkweeds, Pineapple Sage, Cherry Queen Autumn Sage, and Salvias. They have also planted a Gala apple tree and a Ponderosa lemon tree.
A couple weeks later, after all the plants were planted, Karen decided to dig some of them back up so she could put more dirt down. She was concerned that a strong rainstorm may flood the plants, so she raised the plant mounds by two-feet and installed garden fences around each mound.
We will write a follow-up blog post highlighting the garden building process. Check out pictures and videos below!
A couple weeks later, after all the plants were planted, Karen decided to dig some of them back up so she could put more dirt down. She was concerned that a strong rainstorm may flood the plants, so she raised the plant mounds by two-feet and installed garden fences around each mound.
We will write a follow-up blog post highlighting the garden building process. Check out pictures and videos below!
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| Monarch Instar Stage 1 @PDC |
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| Monarch Field Entry Guide |
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| The germination process |
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