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Sarah Carista researched butterflies and their habitats with her fourth-grade classmates last school year at a Roanoke elementary school.

"We researched all different kinds of butterflies in Virginia and then we researched the kind of plants they like to feed on," Sarah said. "We figured out they like butterfly bushes and dill."

The students in Leigh Anne Brewster's class were planning a series of gardens for the new Garden City Elementary Schoolyard Habitat and Outdoor Learning Lab.

On a recent summer morning, Sarah, 10, watered the raised beds in the grassy area between the school and Garden City Boulevard. Parent and student volunteers are caring for the gardens while school is out.

An infusion of community donations last spring allowed Brewster and her students to get started on the habitat, which should come to fruition over the next two years -- and may ultimately gain certification from the National Wildlife Federation.

The habitat features the butterfly garden and four others with various tie-ins to Virginia's Standards of Learning. In the alphabet garden, there is a plant for every letter of the alphabet. The Colonial herb garden contains lavender, rosemary, sage, thyme and other culinary herbs that may have been used in Jamestown.

In the pizza patch garden, many of the ingredients needed to make a pizza can be found: basil, garlic, tomatoes, onions and green peppers.

Plants appealing to each of the five senses are in the sensory garden: lamb's ear (touch), sugarlike stevia and spicy nasturtium (taste), lemon balm (smell), zinnia (see) and a seed-rattling plant, baptista (hear).

A pond garden, rain barrels, a storage shed and possibly a small greenhouse also are planned. A fence will be installed around the habitat and learning lab this summer.

"Usually stuff like this doesn't happen without grants," Brewster said.

Though she may apply for a couple, the habitat got its start from more than 30 community donors, including one anonymous cash donation of $1,000. In-kind donations have included everything from plants to electrical services for the pond installation.

"It is a big deal -- not something like a temporary garden," Brewster said.