A leaf of faith: Old Rochester’s native plant garden takes root
(left to right) Sophomores Morgan Paiva, Riley Ferreira, Rose Bouley, Seraphina Arruda, Penelope Angeley and Isabella Perez-Dormitzer of the Old Rochester Environmental Club began planting a native garden. Source: Karen Browning
(left to right) Sophomores Isabella Perez-Dormitzer and Morgan Paiva work in the soil.
Native flowers bloom in the Old Rochester garden.
A purple cone flower blossoms.
Club members Angela Palmer, Rose Bouley, Penelope Angeley, Isabella Hollis, Riley Ferreira and Isabella Perez-Dormitzer sit upon handcrafted benches at the garden. (not pictured: Morgan Paiva, Seraphina Arruda)
(left to right) Sophomores Penelope Angeley, Morgan Paiva, co-advisor Virginia Whalen, Rose Bouley and Seraphina Arruda dig into the dirt.
A collection of native plants grows.
Wild strawberries are marked with a sign.
(left to right) Sophomores Morgan Paiva, Riley Ferreira, Rose Bouley, Seraphina Arruda, Penelope Angeley and Isabella Perez-Dormitzer of the Old Rochester Environmental Club began planting a native garden. Source: Karen Browning
(left to right) Sophomores Isabella Perez-Dormitzer and Morgan Paiva work in the soil.
Native flowers bloom in the Old Rochester garden.
A purple cone flower blossoms.
Club members Angela Palmer, Rose Bouley, Penelope Angeley, Isabella Hollis, Riley Ferreira and Isabella Perez-Dormitzer sit upon handcrafted benches at the garden. (not pictured: Morgan Paiva, Seraphina Arruda)
(left to right) Sophomores Penelope Angeley, Morgan Paiva, co-advisor Virginia Whalen, Rose Bouley and Seraphina Arruda dig into the dirt.
A collection of native plants grows.
Wild strawberries are marked with a sign.
MATTAPOISETT — The Old Rochester Environmental Club’s big plan-ts for their campus finally came to fruition after a summer of work.
Upon receiving a $500 grant from the Mattapoisett Land Trust and the Massachusetts Cultural Council in April and raising $500 from a plant sale in May, the high school club began sowing the seeds for an eco-friendly improvement to campus: a native plant garden.
“My inspiration for joining the Environmental Club was the lack of pollinators on campus, and wanting to do general good for my community,” said sophomore Riley Ferreira of Mattapoisett. “We don’t have many flowers around campus, so in turn we aren't seeing as many pollinators.”
Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, moths and hummingbirds benefit the ecosystem by transferring pollen from various plants, which is essential to the growth of local vegetation.
In May, students and club co-advisors Karen Browning and Virginia Whalen began researching Massachusetts native plants, how to attain them and consulting with wildlife experts.
The crew reached out to Tree Talk Natives, a native plant nursery in Rochester, to purchase two pollinator kits.
The kits consisted of plants such as common blue violet, golden alexanders, purple coneflowers, showy goldenrods, black-eyed susans and more. The students also planted blueberries, wild strawberries and stonecrop sedum for ground cover.
“One of my main inspirations for joining the environmental club was my mom because she works to educate the public about waste management in New Bedford,” said sophomore Isabella Perez-Dormitzer of Mattapoisett. “She strives to make a more environmentally conscious community, and I wanted to bring that same goal to the school.”
The students and club advisors broke ground on the garden in June.
“I enjoyed finally being able to put the plants in the ground after we'd been working for weeks to plan it out,” said Perez-Dormitzer. “I've also loved seeing students sit in the benches in the garden, and from what I've heard, other people at the school enjoy the garden too.”
She adds that it was “fun to finally get our hands in the dirt.”
In August, James Dunn, an Old Rochester student’s grandfather, completed the garden by donating two handcrafted benches for anyone to sit and admire the new space.
Ultimately, Browning and Whalen hope that the students learned from this experience that “each person and group of people can make a positive difference in their community.”
The garden is located to the right of the gym entrance at Old Rochester Regional High School, and the area is open to the public for all to enjoy.
Moving forward, the club seeks to establish a routine for recycling paper on campus, start a composting system for the garden and begin crafting public service announcements related to environmental initiatives. The club also looks forward to planning a sustainable holiday market in November and having a plant sale in May.
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