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A Wing-Ding Garden

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 18, 2008

PLANT CITY - The students at Wilson Elementary School are free from homework for the summer break, but the butterfly and vegetable garden they left behind will be a busy place while the children are gone.

Butterfly attracters such as hibiscus, milkweed, jasmine, lantana, pentas, marigolds, blue salvia and common butterfly bushes will remain in bloom while school is out, attended by summer staff members and volunteers. The butterflies, of course, will do their work as usual; retracting nectar, spreading pollen and laying eggs.

The vegetable portion of the garden will play itself out. Whether the continuing growth of vegetables such as tomatoes, pole beans, lettuce and radishes and herbs such as parsley and basil will be consumed or left to return to the earth is not clear. But one thing is for sure: The garden will remain a continuing learning source for the students.

"The idea of a garden got its roots as an Earth Day event," said art teacher Martha Genualdi. "We stressed the need to our students about improving the environment. At the same time, the garden allowed us to improve the environment on the school grounds."

First-grade teacher Emily Sollmann had her students involved in the planting and care of the garden.

"We talked about being proud of your school, just as you would like to be proud of your home," she said. "It took them a little while to appreciate the project, but in the end, they understood completely."

It's a matter of learning how to respect and enjoy the Earth, Genualdi said.

"Because of the initial effort by the students, next year we will be able to use the garden as an outside classroom," she said. "We started out with the idea of creating a butterfly garden, which we did. But the opportunity for us to grow herbs and vegetables was too good to pass up."

By the time Earth Day came and went on April 22, the teachers said the students were hooked.

"My class looked at it as a science project," Sollmann said. "But it soon got bigger than that. It brought respect and ownership with it. They became fascinated. Anything that sprouts and grows in the ground is amazing to a first-grader. And they were the ones who planted the seeds and sprouts to grow the garden."

Many of the young students may have thought flowers and food only come from the store, Sollmann said with a smile.

"Now they know how things grow. And how much work it takes to make it happen," she said.

To an art teacher, such as Genualdi, there is more to it than a successful garden.

"In an art prospective, we can watch the ground outside our window transform from a blank slate to a colorful finished product," she said. "This garden is aesthetically pleasing and important to the look of our campus. I'm sure it will continue to be nurtured and maintained for years to come. We can't forget it. It is our school's outdoor project."

Many of the teachers and students had a hand in the development of the garden, including fourth-grade teacher Anne Wilde. Her students were responsible for planting and caring for all the butterfly plants. Another fourth-grade teacher, Lisa Kidwell, and her students participated.

"Karen Carnes, the school reading coach, helped me pick up some of the flowers, spread the rock and mulch, and lay out the area near the birdbath," Genualdi said.

Acting Principal Carol Mayo provided the large steppingstones that surround the birdbath display at the center of the garden.

Many of the items such as flowers, mulch, rock and the cement birdbath were donated by businesses and friends of the school at 702 English St. Fourth-grade teacher Megan Boyette and her husband, Sam, worked with their neighbor to prepare the soil when they first started on the garden in January.

"Michelle Rogers at Dunco Materials was helpful in the initial stages of the garden construction," Genauldi said. "She also led us to contact Bill and Lynne Caples, the owners of a wholesale nursery on Wallace Branch Road. They helped us with seedlings and small plants. Ken and Susan Danglemire, the owners of Holloway Nursery on Holloway Road, donated many of our plants and small flowers."

Monteen Dunn, the owner of Dunco Materials in Plant City, said the company tries to stay involved in community projects.

"When Martha Genualdi told me about the butterfly garden, I knew it was the type of effort that would benefit the students, the school and the community as a whole," Dunn said.

Genualdi looks forward to helping with the school garden in years to come.

"The garden adds a colorful display to the school grounds that we will always appreciate," Genualdi said. "Each year will test our resolve to make it a success. I have all the confidence in the world it will continue to flourish and grow."

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451 or gnewman@tampatrib.com.

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