Our garden journey began in the fall of 2006. At our school, we have
a program called House League, where the students are split into coloured groups
and encouraged to participate in activities and earn points for their colour. One of
our House League Activities was our Gardening club for our Grade Three students.


Our goals and objectives were for the Grade Three students in our gardening club
to work with staff and community members to create and establish a sustainable, natural habitat for insects, primarily the monarch butterflies. We wanted them to establish flowerbeds where host plants (milkweed and parsley) and food/nectar plants could grow. We wanted the students to continue to maintain and add plants, flowers and shrubs to our already existing gardens while expanding their knowledge, appreciation and skills for nature, gardening and prairie plants.


With these goals and objectives in mind, our school applied for and received
a grant of $3976.00 from the Environmental Youth Corp. to complete our gardens. Our Parent Association also gave us $150.00 towards gardening supplies and plants.


We worked with a landscape company called “Hardscapes” and designed
three beds – one larger central bed with milkweed and two surrounding beds with nectar plants for the monarch butterflies. We also worked with Prairie Original Plants to choose plants that were native to Manitoba and would be successful in our gardens. Our gardens were finally completed at the end of May 2007.


The students worked with various people (teachers, administration,
the guidance councillor, janitor, landscapers, parents and other community members) to learn and extend their knowledge about the monarch butterfly and gardening. These students established pen pal relationships with students from New Jersey with the theme of butterflies and gardening in mind and attended 18 learning, art based, planting and maintenance sessions. They learned about the monarch butterfly, the importance of the environment and the success of executing a plan and working hard to see it completed.


Some barriers that existed but were overcome:
- getting approval from our school division's Maintenance Department  
about the location of the gardens and what materials were being used to create our gardens.
This partially resulted in the decision to work with a local landscaper who used stone bricks to create flower beds that would resist weathering, normal "wear and tear" and vandalism.
- Mother Nature...the wet and rainy weather after the May long weekend
looked like it would delay our project by a few weeks. However, our landscaper and his crew
worked through the less rainy days to help keep our project on schedule.
- time...always an ongoing issue when working in a school.                    


One goal that was not achieved was the maintenance and addition of our
existing gardens. This was done, but through other means. During our annual May schoolyard
clean-up, two classrooms "adopted" our existing flower bed and participated in it's clean up.
Due to the already plentiful and existing perennials, no further plants were added.


Ongoing concerns:
- maintenance from year to year of garden beds, especially during the summer.
- watering and water source, especially during the summer.                               
- money to maintain, replenish and add plants.                                                 
- having a staff person "stay in charge" due to transfers, maternity leaves, etc. 


*** Contact: Kristine Johannson ***