As cities grow with more buildings and roads, local butterflies and bees lose the wild spaces where they find food and lay their eggs. Adding native plants can create a safe neighborhood pit stop for these important pollinators, but each plant must have the right environment and weather to grow and flourish. How much water the plants get from rain, how warm or cool the temperature is, and how strong the sunlight is can all affect how well native plants grow. If you were to grow and tend native plants at your school, how would the conditions of your schoolyard affect the plants?

Let’s run an experiment to find out! This year, plant a native pollinator garden at your school to join Fairchild’s Native Plant Network, where people, schools, and businesses work to bring important native plants back to Miami. Fairchild will provide you with 12 native plants to attract butterflies and other animals to your Florida pollinator garden. You will also receive scientific tools to investigate temperature, humidity, and rainfall in your garden. Create a field journal that documents where you planted your garden, tips on how you cared for it, and reflections on how changes in the weather and across seasons affect your native plants. Include one graph from data you collected and share conclusions about what conditions you think make your native plants grow the best.

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