November 2012

Click to see some lovely fall bloomers doing their thing in the Highlands Butterfly Garden.

DO TRY THIS AT HOME!

Source: Uploaded by user via Highlands on Pinterest

Here is our plan for a Pizza Garden--loaded with veggies and fun for the kids. The missing slice makes it easier to reach and tend to the other "slices." The simple raised bed will be made of stacked stones.

This project is for next year so the students can participate in the actual fun of helping seed and plant the "ingredients." If you're interested in this idea, you can make your own pizza garden at home--an elaborate one with all the fixings or a small one in a planter.

A tomato planted in the center of a pot, anchored by three stakes or a tomato cage, will look beautiful by summer's end with various basils ("Purple Ruffles," "Variegated"...) trailing over the edge. Planting basil in the same pot as tomatoes has the added anecdotal benefit of keeping certain bad bugs away.

If you don't want to plant a tomato, you can still plant onions or scallions or pineapple sage in with your basil and let the kids pick these specifically for pizza.

At our house, we've discovered that if the Mini--"I DO NOT EAT VEGETABLES"--Humans have a hand in growing the produce, they're not only willing, but excited to eat said produce. We hope the same proves true with our pizza garden at school.

THANK YOU!

Many and much thanks to all of you hardy souls who came out in the mud and muck to plant a garden! Your hard work will pay off for many years in the garden you have helped create for our children! And yes, I know we owe you new shoes. (photo cribbed from Advent Women newsletter--thanks, Gretchen Williams!)

Wow Wow Wubzy, Garden Day is here!

Can't wait to see the garden's transformation tomorrow!

We want.....A SHRUBBERY!

Check out our virtual chalkboard above to see what wonderful shrubberies await planting on Highlands School's Garden Day---Saturday April 14, 2012 from 9 AM to 12 noon.

Bring you kids! (crafts, refreshments) Bring your shovels! Or just bring yourselves and see the before and after firsthand in our Insta-Garden day of work and fun.
Remember the BEFORE:

Imagine the AFTER:

You, too can be a shrubber!

Roger the Shrubber: Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say Ni at will to old ladies. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred. Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress in this period in history.
King Arthur: Did you say shrubberies?
Roger the Shrubber: Yes, shrubberies are my trade. I am a shrubber. My name is Roger the Shrubber. I arrange, design, and sell shrubberies.

GARDEN DAY is April 14, 2012!

Last school year, in the fall, we had "Gravel Day" to put in the Butterfly Garden's gravel pathway. We had crafts for the kids and refreshments for all.  Look at all these incredible parents, faculty, friends and kids who turned out to build the gravel path that now wends its way through the garden! We cannot thank them enough. It is amazing what a team effort can accomplish in just one day.

This year our GARDEN DAY (Saturday, April 14, 2012 from 9 AM to 12 PM) will focus on planting the shrubs and large plants that will give the garden its structure. We hope seeing this transformation will be as exciting as watching the gravel path take shape last year. Come on out and bring your shovel or wheelbarrow or just yourselves and your enthusiasm! 

Set Pieces

On the list above are the shrubs, trees and other large plants that will provide the overall structure for our Butterfly Garden. To envision them all together, look here.

Good news: the Butterfly Garden already has four fairly mature butterfly bushes..

Bad news: We took a cutting of the light purple flowers all around town seeking a color match, but to no avail.

Good news: Butterfly bushes root fairly easily. We took two cuttings and just stuck them in the ground in a partly sunny, sheltered location.  Seven months later, we have two more light-purple-flowered bushes--small, yes, but healthy.  One to plant and an extra, just in case. They are not even a foot high yet, but one day what a canopy of butterfly magnets we will enjoy! Hopefully, seeing tiny plants turn into giant bushes over time will be a memorable experience for the tiny humans who will grow into middle-schoolers and, one day, adults. Maybe even adult gardeners.