The Mariposa Garden is one of three learning centers provided with the grant.  Creating natural spaces that connect to literacy and scientific inquiry is the primary objective of FLIP THIS PLAYGROUND.

 Monarch butterfly populations have declined as much as 90 percent over the last two decades. We are following the lead of the Desert Botanical Garden by planting gardens that support not only the eggs but also the adult monarchs. Milkweed is the only plant that monarch butterflies can lay their eggs on and that larval/caterpillars can eat. Without milkweed, monarchs will not survive.  Monarchs visit the Phoenix valley during the months of October – April.   Monarch butterfly migration is a phenomenon, mainly across North America, where the subspecies Danaus plexippus plexippus migrates each summer and autumn from sites in California and Arizona to and from mountainous sites in Central Mexico.