The Southwind Garden Club added beauty and interest to the Dogwood campus. Bella Spiotta’s specialized instruction class loves looking out of the window, but the view was bare.
Principal Jessica Woody reached out to a local garden club when she noticed the students looking out the window with nothing exciting to see. The Southwind Garden Club heard about the need. They were looking for a community project, so they contacted the school. They created a seasonal garden for the specialized instruction students.
“The students love to look outside at the pumpkins. It has sparked conversations about the fall and Halloween,” said Spiotta.
In addition to vegetation, the garden club added more permanent pieces too. “We decided to make a whirligig the main attraction,” said Southwind Garden Club president Donna Gilpatrick. “We will plant low maintenance shrubs and annual flowers throughout the school year.”
The students get excited every time they look out the window or go visit the garden during the day. “It is great visual stimulation, and the windmill is soothing,” Spiotta said. “The pumpkins make the environment exciting. They finally have something to look at!”
Without a water source on the property, the club had to get creative. “Our biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to irrigate the planter since there’s no water on the property,” said Gilpatrick.
But Ms. Spiotta has plans to make the garden a part of their daily activities. Not only do they talk about the garden, but they will also start hand watering it daily as a classroom job. They will learn about how gardens grow.
“We hope all of the children that can see it from the classroom windows will enjoy it,” Gilpatrick said. “It was a fun project for our club.”