Mark and Nan Plunkett became Master Gardener Volunteers through the OSU Extension program in 2008, soon after Nan witnessed, first-hand, the pupation of a monarch caterpillar on a fence post in their backyard. After their course work, they got to work and transformed their half-acre suburban lawn into a (mostly) native garden that is both an NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat and Monarch Waystation. In addition, they have continued to pursue a better understanding of the relationships in their garden by completing master's degrees in biology from Miami University.

Nan and Mark are horticulture volunteers at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden as well as classroom facilitators for the Plants & People course that is part of Miami University’s Project Dragonfly master’s degree program.

And their fascination with monarch butterflies continues to inspire them. They also visited Mexico with the Cincinnati Zoo travel program last year to year to witness to monarch migration.