The finished product with future meadow behind and elementary school across street - all photos courtesy of Hilary Oat-Judge of Oehme,van Sweden and Assocs.
You may recall a previous post that talked about this year’s ASLA Legacy Project, done in conjunction with the ACE mentor program at Calvin Coolidge High School in Washington DC. We donated several large aluminum Urban Collection square planters for use in the installation. The work has been installed over 2 weekends in November – from all reports it sounds like it has been a real success!
The design changed somewhat from the original plan that we posted previously (probably once they figured out what they had). You can see that our pots featured prominently as a focus point to the arc in front of the greenhouse building. It was nice to see that they were used well!
Central part of the site with raised garden beds, rain garden and wetland at start of build-it day. Outdoor classroom is to the left
They had over 100 volunteers there for the first build-it day, and another 70 volunteers two weeks later when the planters were installed. Quite an impressive turnout, and a tribute to how well the program is functioning.
Student volunteers bringing the planters into the outdoor classroom
We thought this part (from a follow-up letter by Jeanette Ankoma-Sey of AECOM) was important:
The ASLA Potomac Chapter and ACE program is creating a maintenance manual and creating a resource guide to help program and support the garden’s upkeep in the years to come. Our success in creating the garden is garnering attention and we are finding that organization are seeking out the school and want to establish partnerships for its long term use
Volunteers from Casey Trees, the community, and students prepare the planters for planting. Future meadow is on left, classroom is on right
We were certainly pleased to be part of this program. It is truly inspirational to see how many groups can come together to make a difference in a community!
Installing the plants