Girl Scouts enthusiastic about gardens at South Butler library
There are several special gardens surrounding the South Butler Community Library and a group of Girl Scouts found them all fascinating during a visit Tuesday evening, May 12.
Several Butler County Master Gardeners showed the Girl Scouts the library’s pollinator garden, bird-friendly garden, shade garden and rock gardens, which gardeners take care of throughout the year.
Kathy “Kate” Allen, a Master Gardener who tends to the library gardens, said she and her colleagues also use the gardens for educational purposes, inviting library patrons and residents to learn about how different plants grow and are maintained.
She said the Girl Scouts were a great audience because they got a basic understanding of plants and pollination Tuesday.
“There's three basic elements that are needed to grow anything, good water, good ground and good sunlight,” Allen said. “We gave a tour, identified and described the different perennials and we really made an effort to describe the importance of pollinators. Pollinators include bees, butterflies, even birds, even reptiles like frogs, they're all pollinators.”
The scouts were at the library to earn the merit badge for gardening and Allen said that even though that was their motivation, a majority of them were enthusiastic about the lessons. A Master Gardener gave a presentation where she discussed the basic elements needed for a garden and shared how to plant and even demonstrated the different tools needed for planting and seeding.
“We invited all the kids to come back in a couple months and see how the gardens have grown,” Allen said. “I couldn't believe how enthusiastic these kids were.”
