Eighty 3rd and 4th grade students at Potomack Intermediate School participated in the PHLOW Grow a Garden program this spring.
This was the second time Cacapon Institute worked with lead teacher Emma McAllister to improve their campus. This spring students planted a native rain garden to beautify the courtyard. Cacapon Institute led students in four one-hour classroom education lessons to introduce students to watersheds, stormwater pollution, and the role that rain gardens play in healthier streams and productive pollinators. Students investigated the role of native plants as habitat for bees and butterflies along with the ability of rain gardens to protect our streams.
Students assisted in the planting of almost one hundred red, white, and blue native flowers and shrubs in their rain garden which were obtained from Environmental Concern Nursery. Groups of students assisted with planting, weeding, and mulching the area and will continue to care for the plants over the seasons. Two 500-gallon cisterns were installed to capture rainwater to plant fruit trees planted on campus with Cacapon Institute’s Project CommuniTree.
The Grow a Garden program is teaching students about the critical importance of having native gardens in our communities to reduce the amount of pollution entering our streams and create habitat for native pollinators.
