Butterfly Garden 2025 - Dominican Sisters of Springfield Illinois

Welcome to the Butterfly Garden Project!

Butterflies, birds, and bees are God’s creatures…a cause for springtime hope... a sign of a healthy ecosystem, and natural signs of the transformation and new life to which God calls each of us.

They are also the answer to our prayer about how best to steward our land.

Sister Rose Marie Riley, OP, prioress of Sacred Heart Convent, on the future sight of the butterfly garden.

Sister Rose Marie Riley, prioress at Sacred Heart Convent, is pleased to invite your participation in the Siena Hall property Butterfly Garden Project.

“Everyone who lives and works at Sacred Heart Convent is excited about this project,” Sister Rose Marie says.

“Building a pollinator garden will bring new life to the former Siena Hall property, contribute to the health of our ecosystem, and create an accessible natural space for the delight and healing of our elder sisters.

“We’ve built a team of sisters, coworkers, and donors who are plotting together how to live out our prayer for the life of the world and our care for our common home.

“It’s a delight to gift Earth with a place for prayer to flow in a sanctuary for the creatures who look after us.”

Needs include:

Pavers
Privacy hedge along Washington Street
Pollinator-attracting shrub or a flat of perennial flowers

Will you help us expand our mission?

Donate to the Sisters Here

Wow! Thank You!

We have been overwhelmed by the number of donors who have supported the butterfly garden with the gift of a memorial bench! We have all the benches we need now. Your response is truly humbling.

If you have already donated to provide a memorial paver, or if you would like to do so, this is where you belong. You can still donate a paver here.

You can use the online form by clicking the button below, or this PDF to provide us with the name you would like on the paver.

Submit your paver information here

Butterfly Garden 3-year plan

2025

Planning and research. Check!

Tree planting. 25 trees added to provide an overstory for the bushes and flowers to come.

Pavers to create accessibility and add a prayerful focal point. Donors can choose to remember a loved one with a memorial paver.

Swales and berms. Soil excavated in the tree planting will help prevent water and soil from running off the land.

2026

Meandering pathway. We’ll add an eco-friendly mulch trail to encourage wandering and contemplation

Pollinator beds. will attract the beneficial insects that produce beauty and nourishment.

Focal point. We’ll add welcoming entrance using architectural elements, perhaps a sculpture, pergola, and benches.

2027

Refining the garden through plantings and design.

Educational components for sisters, students, and guests.

Visit often for new stories about the Butterfly Garden Project

How your gift will make an impact

$35 purchases a pollinator-attracting shrub or a flat of perennial flowers.
$100 plants a section of privacy hedge along Washington Street.
$300 allows you to engrave a paver stone in the sustainable walkway.

A prayer for creation

God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of your love for all the creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight. Enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live. The poor and the earth are crying out. O Lord, seize us with your power and light, help us to protect all life, to prepare for a better future, for the coming of your Kingdom of justice, peace, love and beauty.