Girl Scout Brings Butterflies to Fanwood

 Perry Sandrock is a 17-year-old Fanwood resident who loves the outdoors.

So, when it was time for her to complete her Girl Scout Gold Award project, she went down to the Fanwood Environmental Commission to see how this endeavor could most benefit her home town.

The commission gave her several suggestions, but the one that really caught her eye was building a butterfly garden in the Nature Center on Cray Terrace. With all the pesticides that are on plants these days, she said, butterflies don’t have many places where they can feed and reproduce. Perry said she always loved butterflies and was impressed when a local boy scout, Andrew Van Haasteran, built a similar structure a year earlier. 

Local establishments were happy to donate items for the garden. Panettone's Deli in Fanwood provided the coffee grinds and orange peels needed for an excellent compost.  Bartels Farm and Garden Supply donated the soil, Parker Gardens gave Perry plants, and Young Paint provided her with gloves.

Within a few months, with the help of her good friends and family, Perry turned a piece of wild, untamed earth into a beautiful garden where butterflies come to feed on different types of milkweeds.

Perry said that it will take about a year for the plants to reach full bloom, but butterflies can already be seen flying from one bed to the next.  The commission told Perry to make the structure her own work of art and she arranged the flower beds in the shape of peace sign.

"I also placed a bench in front of the garden, with the hopes of having people come and truly enjoy the wonders of nature in their own back yard," she said.

The Fanwood Nature Center is located at Cray Terrace, where the overhead power lines cross the road. Walk up the gravel driveway on the north side (Route 22 side) of Cray Terrace. After about 150 feet you will see a "Welcome to the Fanwood Nature Center" sign on the left side of the driveway.