Berry Botanic Garden Awarded: $500.00 Requested: $800.00 For: Woody/herbaceous plants

The BBG desired to create, within its .25-acre rock garden, a display of alpine and rock garden perennials and shrubs native to the Siskiyou Mountains region of southwestern Oregon and northern California. Staff and volunteers planned to rebuild rock garden beds, create interpretive labels, and establish the plantings. The new mission of the BBG "promotes northwest native plants, maintains special plant collections, conserves native endangered plants, and offers related educational programs."

Blue Mountain Community College
Awarded: $625.00
Requested: $750.00
For: Woody/herbaceous plants; landscaping materials.

Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton has 1000 full-time and 4500 part-time students. Inspired by the native plant gardening practices at Central Oregon Community College, the biology department at BMCC has initiated its own "physic" (teaching) garden, to be used by botany (and other) students and presented as a model for what the BMCC campus could be. The applicants wrote, "...we hope it [the garden] will encourage people to reconsider the use of exotics that require frequent watering and the ...use of... fertilizers and pesticides. We have a long way to go since much of our campus is covered in lawn and flower beds devoid of mulch." The biology department has already committeed funding for this project, and we applaud their dedication to translate knowledge into a real-life learning environment.

Clatsop County Master Gardeners Awarded: $1500.00 Requested: $2000.00 For: Perennials; equipment; landscaping materials.

Since 1998, Clatsop County Master Gardeners have been developing a demonstration garden at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds in Astoria. In the spring of 2000, their plan was to introduce a wide selection of woody plants and herbaceous perennials for the benefit of the thousands of people who attend events at the fairgrounds. Photos of the garden show its impressive development since its inception; in 1999, the garden measured 50 by 132 feet and included annuals, perennials, herbs and vegetables, all meticulously grown. The group has worked hard to gather in-kind donations and funding from nurseries, landscape supply companies, and the Oregon Master Gardener Association. Their dedication and obvious love for the demonstration gaarden deserve recognition.

Columbia Gorge Discovery Center/Wasco County Historical Museum
Awarded: $1000.00
Requested: $1000.00
For: Native perennials, woody plants.

This application was thoughtfully prepared and included convincing documentation as to the commitment of this group. The CGDC (in The Dalles) have created a restoration project on the site of an old concrete batching plant, hauling in rocks and soil and recreating the terrain typical of the area. Using the Lewis and Clark expedition plant records from 1805-6, the staff is planting hundreds of Columbia Gorge Basin plants with the help of volunteers from AmeriCorps, Friends of the Gorge, Nike, and the Native Plant Society of Oregon. Milestone Nursery in Lyle, Washington, donated about $3400 worth of plants. The CGDC has only been open to the public since 1997, and has already gathered tremendous community support. Their interpretive trail connects with The Dalles River Front Trail, a popular nine-mile family bike route, making the restoration project accessible to thousands of visitors - 60,000 in less than three years!

Environmental Middle School
Awarded: $500.00
Requested: $1200.00
For: Building materials.

The Environmental Middle School is a public Special Focus School in SE Portland, with a special emphasis on environmental issues, botanical knowledge and outdoor skills. The school shares its large garden space (maintained by students year-round) with nearby Abernathy Elementary School, and adjoins a large schoolyard which is popular with the community. EMS proposes to build a schoolyard orchard with a grape arbor and fruit trees. These are perfect crops for the students, as they can be harvested during the school year. Unlike other schools, EMS has an established curriculum that fully integrates the garden: science, math, and writing classes take advantage of the outdoor space in a variety of ways. Elemntary school students at Abernathy often go on to attend EMS, and in turn become teachers for younger students in the garden. Few schools devote as much attention to the love of plants as EMS; their school orchard shows much promise.

FOOD for Lane County
Awarded: $500.00
Requested: $500.00
For: Fencing materials.

From the application: "FFLC's Game Farm Community Garden began in 1999 as an extension of its Springfield Youth Farm. Located on a vacant lot owned by the Springfield School District, the Youth Farm was created in 1998... to provide at-risk youth with job, horticulture, and business skills; grow organic produce for low-income families; and build community... by creating a beautiful garden where neighbors come together and buy affordable produce at our farm stand.... Neighbors of the Youth Farm approached the staff requesting personal garden space. Because of their initiative, the Game Farm Community Garden, the only community garden in Springfield, was developed." The spring of 2000, there were to be 24 plots available to local families. Many local nurseries and supply stores have donated plants (including perennials, fruit trees and shrubs), supplies and services. Funds from the HPSO will be used to construct a permanent perimenter fence to define the garden and support a variety of vines. The before-and-after photes of this garden are astounding!

Friendly House Community Center
Awarded: $943.00
Requested: $943.00
For: Plants, soil, landscaping materials.

The Friendly House Senior Program in NW Portland provides opportunities for elderly residents of the neighborhood to gather in a safe, comfortable site. Many of these seniors live in apartment buildings with no place to sit outdoors or to have even the smallest space to garden. The staff at Friendly House want to convert an outdoor courtyard into an Intergenerational Garden where children and seniors of the community center can work together, cultivating plants in raised planters. Teresia Hazen, Horticultural Therapist at Legacy Good Samaritan has been volunteering her professional services to ensure that the space is ADA compliant, and local Master Gardeners have been advising also. FH received several grants and in-kind donations from community groups - clearly, the organizastion is determined to make this garden a success.

Harmony Montessori
Awarded: $600.00
Requested: $956.20
For: Soil, lumber for raised beds.

This school moved last year to a wing of a church in east Portland, and serves 55 children ages 3 to 6, with plans to add elementary grades in a year. Montessori schools focus on direct, real-life involvement with real objects, which is why outdoor (and indoor) activity with real plants is integral to the curriculum. The school moved two raised beds from its old location and because the soil at the new location is poor, it plans to build several more. In order to include children from the surrounding neighborhoods (many of whom come from lower-income families), Harmony offers a reduced/free hot lunch program and has offered several scholarships to refugee children. It has received donations of lumber and mulch from local businesses, and continues to solicit supplies of pavers, gravel, etc. The school operates year-round, so children will tend the garden throughout the summer. Based on their well-prepared budget, their extensive understanding of garden education, and their concerted effort to create a year-round garden space, their application earns our support.

Oregon State University, North Willamette Research and Extension Center
Awarded: $1500.00
Requested: $1575.00
For: Soil, mulch, propagation supplies, trencher rental.

A new project at NWREC in Aurora will create a .4 acre planting of over 100 different hebe species and cultivars to be tested for hardiness and a variety of characteristics. Sponsored by the PLANT (Plant, Landscape and New Taxa) program of OSU, this evaluation will have access to new hebes from Washington Park and Strybing Arboreta, cooperators in New Zealand, the Hebe Society in England, and many small, local nurseries which lack the resources to evaluate plants systematically. OSU Master Gardeners willl volunteer to measure growth rates and document leaf/flower color and length of flowering season of all test plants. By determining which of these little-known but fascinating plants would grow well in our climate, the project will give HPSO members (not to mention the general public!) exactly the kind of solid garden information we all look for when choosing new plants.

Pacific High School
Awarded: $415.00
Requested: $415.00
For: Woody plants, soil.

For the last five years, Pacific High School in Port Orford has developed a Natural Resource Program, which includes a four-year curriculum using the school's cranberry bog, a two-acre enclosure, and an 800-square-feet greenhouse. Students raise a variety of crops (besides cranberries) in the green house and surrounding raised beds, and now propose to create an apiary of honeybees, bumblebees, and orchard mason bees. In order to support the apiary, students want to plant a variety of pollen- and nectar-producing plants from the Ericaceae (Heath Family) and other important families. Cranberries are a mojor income source for the surrounding community, and pollinators for this crop have been decimated by honeybee pests in recent years. By raising and collecting data on alternative pollinators (bumblebees and mason bees), student work will benefit local farmers. This project will also be part of the school's major CAM (Certificate of Advanced Mastery) for science program, required by the state. The committee chose to recognize Pacific's project for its clearly-stated mission, innovation, educational value, and relevance to the community.

Last modified: July 31, 2006
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