http://greennowanhs.webs….albumid=8583592
As part of an ongoing effort to make Aliso Niguel High School a model of environmental leadership and sustainability, students and faculty have created a school garden. This garden will bring many benefits to the school, but above all, it will serve as a reminder to students about the importance and worth of what we are trying to protect: our environment. It is a project of the Green Now club, but it is to involve many different groups on campus and benefit all students. The garden will involve students in its growth and maintenance, fostering a greater sense of personal responsibility as well as a sense of pride in their school and community.
Going along with our environmental theme, they are filling the garden with native plants. Native plants help conserve water, reduce mowing costs, provide habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife, protect the soil and save money on fertilizer and pesticides. Also, as Lady Bird Johnson said, native plants “give us a sense of where we are in this great land of ours.” Having native plants therefore serves our two major motivations for this garden: to teach sustainability and to enhance our sense of community. For most students, however, the garden will simply be a pleasant, gentle reminder during hectic schooldays of our connection with nature and the world around us.
The garden is located next to the library windows in the large planter area that was barren, leaving room for future expansion should they decide in the future to extend the garden. The set-up day was Sunday, March 28. Both student and parent volunteers assisted in the set-up and planting of the garden. Among the 75 plants are Festuca californica (blue/gray tuft grass), Heuchera (Coral bells flowers), Iris douglasiana, Mahonia aquifolium compacta (Oregon Grape), Muhlenbergia rigens (Deer Grass), and Woodwardia fimbriata (Giant Chain Fern).
