About the Orpheum Butterfly Garden:

In May 2016, the Entomology Graduate Student Association was awarded $1500 from the Chancellor’s Public Engagement Student Fellows grant program from the Office of Public Engagement at UIUC. The award funded a community outreach project called “Growing prairies, growing minds” sponsored by Dr. Lawrence Hanks and approved by the Board of Directors at the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum in Champaign, IL. Twenty-two volunteers committed 200+ total hours of labor to build a butterfly and bee garden in the Orpheum’s courtyard. Today, the garden supports 35 species of native plants and 16 exotic species, giving a grand total of 150 individual plants! Technical advice was provided by Grand Prairie Friends and students and faculty in the Dept. of Entomology at UIUC. Numerous native plants were donated by the Pollinatarium and private individuals in the community. Landscaping materials and images were donated by the Preservation & Conservation Association of Champaign County and the Illinois Natural History Survey, respectively. The Champaign Park District took note of the project and donated “Pollinator Hotspot” signs.

The grand opening for the Orpheum Pollinator Garden and the Archaeology Field Station was on July 30, 2016, which was covered by the Illinois News Bureau. The keynote speakers during the grand opening of the exhibits were Illinois State Senator Scott Bennett (52nd District) and Champaign City Mayor, Deborah Frank Feinen.

Before and After look of the main raised bed at the Orpheum Butterfly Garden

With support from graduate students in Entomology and the Education and Exhibits Committee at the Orpheum, we incorporated several activities for museum patrons. See for yourself on my “Educational Designs” and “Exhibition Materials” webpages. Here’s a snapshot of what we did:

1. Sensory gardens with familiar herbs, colorful annuals, and sunflowers for toddlers.
2. A young naturalist’s butterfly scavenger hunt with pictures and names of common butterflies in the area. **More pages will be added for insects and other animals! **
3. Wooden plant labels for curious parents (created at the Fab Lab).
4. A chalkboard butterfly stand-in, or “head-in-a-hole,” for budding artists.
5. A display case with pinned insects sorted by their habitats and ecologies. ** A second display case with the diversity of insects is in the works! **
6. A pamphlet with a guide to starting your own perennial pollinator garden at home.

What’s next for the Orpheum Pollinator Garden?

In February 2017, the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum was awarded $250 from Champaign County Audubon Society’s mini-grant program to enhance and expand the Orpheum Pollinator Garden. In the coming months, we will be adding more educational signs to the courtyard and we will be reinvigorating the garden with mulch, soil, and additional landscaping. The long-term vision for the Orpheum Pollinator Garden is to add:

1. solitary bee houses and habitats,
2. bird and bat houses,
3. workshops and curricula for field trips and day camps, and

Soon, we will be registering the Orpheum Pollinator Garden to local, regional, or national databases, seeking pollinator habitat certification, and conducting bio-blitz insect surveys.

[1] Chancellor’s Public Engagement Student Fellows grant program winners are, from left, Jenny Gleason, education coordinator, Orpheum Children’s Science Museum; U. of I. entomology graduate students Alexander Hazel and Margaret Thairu; Perry Morris, vice president of the museum board; René A. Dunn, executive director of the museum; and Janet Wattnem, a board member with the museum.

Exhibit Educational Display

Ecology and natural history display case of pinned insects found in east central Illinois. The Cornell drawer was purchased from Bioquip (outside dimensions = 19 x 16-1/2 x 3″)

Exhibit Informational Poster