Making connections.I don’t know if butterflies in our time play a role assigned to canaries in 19th century mine shafts, but the decline of many beautiful species, including the admired monarch, is worrying thoughtful biologists.

Subtle poisons sprayed by hand into gardens or from aircraft to eliminate mosquitoes or gypsy moths often prove lethal to non-target insect species, including beneficial plant pollinators.

Destruction of habitat may be just as deadly. A family that’s willing to spend $100 or more for a packet of monarch butterflies to release at a wedding may uproot each milkweed plant that rears its head in a yard or garden, unaware that they’ve destroyed the single plant that monarch caterpillars will eat. It’s also a plant that furnishes valuable nectar when it blooms in mid-summer to dozens of butterfly species.

Concerned about these trends, Susann George, who directs the Summer Learning Camp for children at the Damascus School, organized the school’s campers this summer to create a series of butterfly-friendly gardens. The kids, assisted by Master Gardener Faye Rossi, planted milkweed to provide nurseries for monarch caterpillars, and nectar plants such as purple coneflower to entice adult butterflies, including tiger swallowtails.

A “thank you” card handed to me after a visit distills a spirit that rapidly spread among the Damascus gardeners. “We are excited to learn more about butterflies,” wrote second and third graders. Their co-worker, Leean, who printed the message, also painted a flower and a butterfly on the cover.