A Message from parent and
gardener, Liza Ordubegian:
The Award Winning Earl Beatty Garden
Needs Summer Help!
Did you know?
The garden began
it’s journey in 2000, planned and planted by two parents at the request of the
principal. It was a butterfly garden, and it was installed that April, along
with the weeding and planting of the raised beds at the front of the school.
The native garden, fence and teaching circle was designed by two parents, and
installed in 2009. In 2009 and 2010, bulbs were planted in the garden and the
front lawn. Who planted all these shrubs, plants and bulbs? The students, teachers and parents -
working together. In 2009, the East York Garden Club awarded our garden with
the Joan Grys Award for Native Gardens. We were all very proud.
Fruit and flowers for birds, bees, butterflies - and people!
Many of you have
been admiring the garden first with the crocuses, then the daffodils, and now
the Saskatoon berry shrubs with their airy white blossoms. You may not have
noticed them yet, but there are violets, wild strawberries blooming now, and
red and black currant bushes too. There are more to come! The elderberry,
viburnum and ninebark shrubs are getting ready to bloom, and the butterfly
bush, phlox, wild rose, purple flowering raspberry, cup flower, tall sunflower,
asters, milkweed, trumpet vine among others will come later, throughout the
summer. All these plants attract birds, butterflies, and the all-important
bees.
Shade for our warming climate -
Along the
boulevards round our school, and in the back field near the sport pad, are new
trees. Although this wet April has been very beneficial to get them started,
the very dry summers we’ve had for the last number of years have killed off
some trees, and severely weakened others.
The gardens and the new trees need help. For the last 12 years, parents and
students have signed up for a week during the summer to water the garden and
the new trees. We have a large portable bucket filled with hoses, sprinklers,
pliers, and a trug (essentially a flexible bucket with two handles). The big
bucket is currently stored in the school, but it gets placed behind my house at
239
Wolverleigh Boulevard for the summer.
What can you do?
Pick a week in the summer, sign up for it, and keep the gardens and
trees watered. If it rains all that week - lucky you! Otherwise, a couple of
times a week for an hour or so will likely do the trick
How?
If it’s your week,
retrieve the bucket of hoses from my yard, and head to the front of the school. There is a spigot about half way between the front steps and the garden. Attach
the hose, turn on the tap with the pliers, and water the front beds, the bed in
the junior playground and the garden. Take the trug, fill it as high as you can
lift it, and dump the water on the trees along the boulevards and at the back
of the school. If you have a wagon, you can carry several buckets to the far
reaches.
How do I sign
up?
Take a look at the table (click link) - it shows the weeks of the summer. You
can sign up by emailing me, with your name, preferred and secondary week (in
case your first week is already filled), plus your email address and phone
number. I will slot you in for your time, and the list will be posted on the
blog.
Thank you for keeping our gardens and shade trees in good shape for now and the
future.
Liza
Ordubegian
liza.ordubegian@gmail.com
