When Fabra Elementary students return to school next month, they will find their school courtyard teeming with colorful flowers and the butterflies they naturally attract.
Fabra education specialist Naomi Jendrusch sought the aid of the Hill Country Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists in creating a pollinator garden for the school.
Master Naturalists Kathy Webster and Rachel Thompson completed a site visit at Fabra and shared a presentation on the benefits of native plants with Fabra students and members of the Boerne Noon Rotary Club and Sunrise Rotary.
Texas Master Naturalist Lou Hugman shows Fabra Elementary students Emery Davenport, Parker Drayton and Oliver Angelucci, right, the correct way to plant some of the 84 plants that now bloom in the Fabra school courtyard.
Courtesy photo The rotary clubs sponsor a program at Fabra called Early Act that challenges children to serve their community through service projects. Jendrusch, also a Noon Rotary Club member, made the connection and the pollinator garden effort was under way.
“Our goal is to get more native plants out into the community, for the benefits that provides to our whole ecosystem,” said Kathy Webster, with the Native Plant Society of Texas and a Texas Master Naturalist.
Eight members of the Native Plant Society turned out for the April planting, working with Jendrusch, the students and Rotary volunteers to prep the beds and install the plants.
84 native plants representing 10 different species were installed in the dozen raised beds “and the children were eager participants in the whole process,” Webster said.
The Boerne Noon Rotary and the Boerne Sunrise Rotary clubs funded the purchase of all the plants. Silvestre Garcia, a local landscaper, donated the soil and some of the labor for the project.
Jendrusch and her students were awarded a “Pollinator Champion” sign placed in the Fabra courtyard. The ceremony was attended by members of both Boerne Rotary clubs, Boerne ISD school board Trustee Rich Sena, Fabra Principal Troy Latiolais, Jendrusch and Early Act students and members of the Native Plant Society and Texas Master Naturalists.
Webster said most online requests for Native Plant Society presentations are from homeowners or homeowners’ associations. The school’s request, she said, was a rare but enjoyable venture.
“We don’t get a lot of those. I wish we got more, because it’s a wonderful opportunity to educate children about ... native plants and plants that occurred naturally,” she said.
“Butterflies and insects did not evolve with the non–native plants, so they don’t recognize them,” Webster said, explaining why only certain plants were planted in the courtyard beds, including passion flower vine, Gregg’s blue mistflower, mealy blue sage and autumn sage.
“We planted four large beds, 25 feet by 2 feet, each planted with different color flowers,” she said. “All the same plants were put in one: mealy blue sage, autumn sage, skeleton leaf goldeneye, and rock rose that looks pink.”
Six other beds each have a crepe myrtle, a non-native plant, “but which were already there, so we put native plants around them,” including zexmenia, Texas betony and black-eyed Susans.
“One other large bed that had several large rose bushes, we added mountain laurels and Gregg’s blue mistflower,” she said. “Butterflies flock to these.”
Jendrusch has been watering and caring for the plants while students have been on summer break.
“These are native plants, they are tough, drought-tolerate, and disease- and pest-resistant,” Webster added.
Boerne and Kendall County residents who might want help selecting plants for their landscaping can contact the Texas Master Naturalist program at txmn.org/hillcountry/pgarp — the organization’s Pollinator Garden Assistance and Recognition Program.
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