April is National Gardening Month!

What a relief that the weather has returned to more typical (and tolerable) temperatures! The heat spike gave my milkweed a growth spurt and the spring rain is helping my front yard monarch habitat (featured image above) fill in nicely.

*Narrow Leaf Milkweed captured on March 11th and March 31st.* Asclepias fascicularis is one of the four native varieties historically found in Napa County.

Garden centers and big box stores act like spring is the most important season for gardeners. However, The School Garden Doctor supports year-round gardening, especially at schools that are not in session to harvest many spring-planted crops. Our programs run on an academic calendar–September through May. By April, we’re in the home stretch. Below we highlight a few recent accomplishments followed by April events.

Erin S. Soper Award

Nominations close April 4th. If you know an educator who nurtures a school garden as a labor of love, please share this opportunity with them.

Dirt Girls Program

Dirt Girls Fall Season Highlights shared successes from our program at Willow Elementary, where we planted milkweed. Currently, we are supporting in a monthly capacity to plant the remaining habitat plants from our Monarch Waystation Plant List. We are looking ahead to next year, when we will launch Dirt Girl Greenhouse at a partner site.

Monarch Education and Habitat Monitoring Project

Second graders participated in monarch art lessons exploring symbolism and surrealism. We added six more milkweed plants to the pollinator garden planted by Napa RCD at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and certified it with Monarch Watch. An intern from New Tech High School is monitoring pollinator visits there and at Becky’s Butterfly Garden at Skyline Park. I also completed the introductory course for the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project.

Nature Journaling Classes

Students at Stone Bridge School closely observed and sketched Silver Lupine in their monarch habitat. April 8th will be the final session of Nature Journaling at Archer Taylor Preserve, where I have been teaching monthly.

April is also Plant California Natives Month! Be sure to visit the CNPS Napa Valley Chapter Plant Sale @Skyline Park April 11-13th (more information below).