A long-vacant McKees Rocks White Tower restaurant that had become an eyesore has been replaced with a flowering butterfly garden.

Tickseed, sidalcea, butterfly weed and other perennials were planted recently by 15 children with a lot of help from adults.

The garden is next to the Father Ryan Arts Center, 420 Chartiers Ave. The gardeners -- ages 6 to 10 -- are enrolled in the Butterfly Garden Early Learning Center, which is a nationally certified early care and education center operated by Focus on Renewal.

The goal of the garden project includes "environmental learning."

Jeff Jaeger of Octopus Organic Gardening in Shaler spent the day with the children, both inside a classroom and outside during the hands-on planting.

The project was a natural for the children, who got to play with dirt and water.

When they left their classroom and walked outside, children found five planter boxes, pre-filled with dirt and mulch. The Octopus Organic Gardening crew had come out the day before to set it up.

Flowering plants in hues of purple, lavender, orange and white were in individual pots, set up in the beds the way Octopus Gardening had designed the site.

"First you have to dig the holes," Mr. Jaeger told the children. He gave them plastic buckets and two-cup measuring cups for the task. Then he showed them how to gently coax the plants out of their small containers.

In less than an hour, the children had all of the plants in the ground. Then they got to fill their buckets and cups with water.

"Don't throw the water on the tops of the plants. They don't like showers," Mr. Jaeger said. "We need to water the roots."

Focus On Renewal staff, shoppers and people waiting for buses smiled as the children cheerfully planted and watered.

"This site was an old White Tower years ago. It was vacant and an eyesore," said Jamie Rooney, director of industrial advancement for FOR.

About a year and a half ago, FOR got a demolition grant to have the building torn down.

The remaining hole in the ground was unattractive and unsafe, so the agency got a $5,000 grant from the Ladies Hospital Aid Society from UPMC Montefiore Hospital to complete the demolition by breaking up concrete and backfilling the space with stone and topsoil.

McKees Rocks Mayor Jack Muhr donated several loads of fill. Mongiovi & Son did the work.

Master gardener Colleen O'Toole of Hampton donated some of the plants as did master gardeners from the North Hills Demonstration Garden.

The butterfly garden is sponsored by an $8,000 contribution from Equitable Gas Co. for school-age programing.

"The project is designed to build a love of nature, simulate social interaction and facilitate learning," says a news release from Focus on Renewal.

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