Butterfly Garden

and Landscape Architecture

Projects like these are important• The monarch butterfly is a perfect example of

why.• In the last few years, monarch numbers have

dropped by 60% - mostly due to loss of habitat (the decrease in milkweed numbers due to the plowing of grassland and other habitat loss).– In Mexico but more so, for a change, in the United

States and even Canada. • Butterfly gardens are attractive and do great

service to wildlife of all types.

Butterfly gardens provide habitat

• In residential and urban landscapes we can help increase the amount of habitat, specifically milkweed plants, available to monarchs.

Think about the ecology of the plants and butterflies - and the landscape aesthetics

Create a vision of what you are doing

Keep in Mind What You Are Doing

This is not just a school exercise, but a real contribution

The relationships between plants and “their” animals, symbiosis, is fundamental to how the natural world has

evolved. The needs of the monarchs and the flowering plants they use are no accident.

We can help our native prairie flowers, monarchs, and ourselves through the creation of urban butterfly

gardens.

Landscape Architecture as a Profession

• The art and practice of designing the outdoor environment, esp. designing parks or gardens together with buildings and roads.

• This is a major at Iowa State University – one of the premier programs in the US in the discipline.