Growing Gardens - Growing Minds Program
Grants for Gardens
Stadler Nurseries is offering grants of up to $500 to provide schools with plants and gardening supplies for garden and landscaping projects. We will select 2 schools, each semester, in Frederick and Montgomery Counties in Maryland and Prince William County in Virginia, to receive these grants.
Stadler Nurseries will provide grant recipients with a 1-hour onsite consultation to review the proposed project and to offer suggestions.
Ideas to Consider for Garden Projects:
| Entrance Planting | Bird Garden | Container Garden | ||
| Native Garden | Butterfly Garden | Courtyard Planting | ||
| Tree Plantings | Natural Fencing | Reading Garden | ||
| Herb/Vegetable Garden |
All schools applying for grants should have sufficient support from the school community and the school administration to ensure implementation and maintenance of the project.
Special consideration will be given to those proposals that demonstrate educational opportunities both in the installation of the plan and in the utilization of the end product.
Deadlines:
- For the 2008 spring semester: February 18, 2008. Schools will be notified by March 1, 2008.
- For the 2008 fall semester: September 1, 2008. Schools will be notified by September 15, 2008.
All applying schools will be notified once the selection process is complete. Grant recipients will be contacted soon thereafter. Applicants not selected may reapply the following semester. Two schools from each county will be chosen each semester.
Spring 2008 Winners
Stadler Nurseries is pleased to announce the winners of the Spring 2008 Growing Gardens - Growing Minds awards.
Maryvale Elementary School, located in Rockville, plans to transform an under-utilized courtyard, adjacent to its library, into a Butterfly Garden. "Our goal is to make this exhibit interactive. Students will be able to touch, smell, see and study the lifecycle of a butterfly." This project will be incorporated into the 1st grade curriculum as the students study the life cycle of earthworms, with the 4th grade as the students study ecosystems and with the 2nd grade who have an entire lesson devoted to the lifecycle of butterflies. Maryvale receives caterpillars from Montgomery County as the live specimen in their Science Kits. "The students then track the cycle of the caterpillar ending with a grand ceremony where the butterflies are released."
Sandy Spring Friends School, in Sandy Spring, is expanding its existing Butterfly Garden. "The entire Lower School benefits from learning about the life-cycle of the butterfly and what sustains these beautiful insects. It is wonderful to see the butterflies on campus!" The butterfly garden is part of the curriculum of every class in the Lower School. The students learn what you must plant and care for to keep butterflies, as well as the lifecycle of the butterfly. The school plans "to expand these learning opportunities to our summer camps."
Sherwood High School, in Olney, is renovating the Ertzman Courtyard, located outside of the Ertzman Theatre, "home of Sherwood's famous Rock-N-Roll Revival. "For many people in the community, the Ertzman Theatre is their first introduction to Sherwood H.S….We would also like to make it a place to showcase student art. The goal is to make the Ertzman Courtyard a wonderful first impression for new comers to the Sherwood community." Adult and student volunteers make up their "Courtyard Crew" of workers. Students who participate with the clearing, planting and maintaining the garden earn community service hours.
Valley Elementary School, in Jefferson, is expanding its Schoolyard Habitat, which is a wetland restoration project. The habitat "will be used as an outdoor classroom for students to study the characteristics and benefits of wetlands as well as the connection between healthy wetlands and a healthy Chesapeake Bay." The wetland is approximately 7800 square feet. This ambitious project has three phases and includes planting 925 native grasses and perennials in the wetland and over 150 native trees to act as a buffer which "will work with the wetland to filter the runoff, provide habitat and help shelter the wetland from the strong winds in the area."
Stadler Nurseries is very pleased to be able to participate in contributing towards these exciting projects, all of which include students, faculty and the community working together to bring beauty and education through gardening to their schools.
