Convalescent Center Garden a Monarch Waystation

September 4, 2014

By Julie Moore

Residents of the DuPage County Convalescent Center (DPCC) in Wheaton recently learned that the garden at their facility had reached a new milestone. The 12,000 square foot Residents’ Garden in the center of the complex has been designated a Monarch Waystation by the Monarch Watch organization. This nonprofit educational outreach program promotes establishing Waystations to help provide monarch butterfly habitat requirements for their survival.

To survive, monarchs depend on the availability of milkweed plants, those found in the genus Asclepias. Female monarchs will only lay eggs on the underside of a milkweed plant leaf and the caterpillars which hatch from the eggs exclusively feed on milkweed leaves. The caterpillars eventually form a chrysalis, or cocoon, and undergo complete metamorphosis turning into an adult monarch butterfly. Adults require a wide range of flowering plants with nectar for food. The DPCC Resident’s Garden easily qualified as a Waystation with its twenty milkweed plants and hundreds flowers.

Henry Parker, a Recreation Therapy Coordinator at DPCC heads up the Garden Club and oversees all aspects of the garden. Parker has been involved with both programs for the past twenty years. Working along with Parker are more than twenty University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners and other volunteers from the community.

“Our garden program had dedicated, caring volunteers and when the Master Gardeners joined their ranks in 2009 they showed the same commitment to the residents. The increased number of volunteers, and the talents they bring, has allowed the program to expand dramatically to the benefit of everyone at the Center,” noted Parker.

In 2013, the Master Gardeners planted a Monarch Butterfly Garden within the residents’ raised bed garden area. Monarch loving swamp milkweed, penta, asters, butterfly weed and snapdragons are featured in the garden again this year. To apply for a Monarch Waystation status Master Gardener volunteers collected data on the number and varieties of flowering plants within the entire Residents’ Garden, including the number of milkweed plants. Other important factors for Waystation qualification included mulching of gardens to reduce water loss and the lack of pesticide use. The Residents’ Garden became certified as Monarch Waystation #7272 this year.

Team Leader of the Master Gardeners is Linda Kunesh of Carol Stream. “One aim of The Monarch Waystation certification for the garden was to provide another educational slant to our programming, which we always hope to achieve. Lessons for the residents on how and why we want to attract the monarchs have taken place. Monarch numbers are low nationwide, but we have seen several and have found eggs and tiny monarch caterpillars on milkweed leaves.” An unexpected benefit of the Monarch program occurred, according to Kunesh. “I have noticed an increased interest in all insects we have in the garden by the residents and the Master Gardeners. We have shared our insect findings with the residents and they in turn are sharing theirs with us. It’s been special for everyone.”

The Resident’s Garden is a combination of several distinct sections. Master Gardener Barb DeCanio of Wheaton contributed her talents at garden bed design to the Center when she created the plans for a Rainbow Garden. It was installed in 2012 and features eight color rays, including white, filled with hundreds of blooming annuals and perennials. Residents in wheelchairs can experience the pleasure of being ‘in’ this garden on a keyhole shaped brick walkway which takes them to the center of it. Monarch and Swallowtail butterflies along with dozens of other insects visit this garden daily to enjoy nectar and pollen.

Resident Dolores Weiss shared, “I spend time every day in the garden weeding my plot or reading a book.” A gardener before she came to DPCC, she enjoyed growing roses at her home. “I enjoy seeing the flowers in the garden and the butterflies that have been coming to visit.”

Weiss and approximately 50 other members of the Residents’ Garden Club meet weekly from April through October to garden, learn and socialize. Each Club member is assigned a 6’ long plot to call their own for the season. These are found within one of the nine long rows of 3’ high raised garden beds in a sunny section of the garden. Master Gardeners and other volunteers assist residents with their garden maintenance each Thursday morning when the Club meets. Most residents grow a combination of vegetables and flowers and all enjoy entering items from their garden in the County Fair each July.

“The Monarch Waystation has become an exciting addition to the garden for all of the residents. They already invite family and friends to join them in the garden when visiting and now come to watch for monarchs,” Parker stated.
Resident Carol Brinkman has enjoyed the laminated photos of all stages of the monarch butterfly lifecycle that are posted within the Monarch Garden. “The flowers in that garden are very pretty and the pictures are cool. I’ve learned to tell the difference between the male and the female monarch.”

Parker believes, “The monarch garden and Waystation designation have added some magic to the garden.” Kathy Pryor, a resident and active Garden Club member, agrees. “I’m out in the garden a lot. It’s amazing to see the butterflies come and to watch the movement of the monarchs. It’s peaceful in the garden.”

Julie Moore of Wheaton is a Master Gardener volunteer with the University of Illinois Extension in DuPage County is a Team Member at DPCC.

For more photos, visit the local U of I Extension Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/extensiondkk.