Garden brings new life to Alameda grade school

Tag : cobalt sulfate

Shirley Alexandra Watts is known for the quirky, elegant gardensshe designs and builds for private homes, her inventive use ofrecycled and repurposed materials - tumbled glass, billboard vinyls- and elegant whimsy-like bits of text from Mary WollstonecraftShelley and Petrarch. She might not be the most obvious candidateto create a garden for a grade school. But when her Alamedaneighbors approached her for help with a makeover of Henry HaightElementary School's front yard, Watts couldn't say "no."
She did more than say "yes." Asked for a simple plan sketch, sherounded up volunteers and plants and propagators, salvaged andearth-friendly materials and applied her lively imagination alongwith her own hands.
The garden was dedicated at the beginning of the Memorial Dayweekend, with two students wielding the ribbon-cutting grassshears. Parents, teachers, neighbors and business folk gathered forthe event.
"I don't call this a garden," said Principal Margaret Harris. "Idon't call it a landscape. It's a work of art. We were blessed tohave Shirley Watts to carry out her vision to what we see beforeus."
Before the renovations, Henry Haight was far from a work of art."The school used to look like a prison," remembered Andrew McKee,father of one of the ribbon-cutters. "It was beige on beige,chain-link fencing, a weed-strewn yard. It didn't look like a placeanyone loved." Community involvement
A chance to pick new exterior colors for a 2007 retrofit got thecommunity involved, and that led to thoughts of a new garden.
"The parents called me in to help with the landscape design infront of the school," Watts said. "The area was 9,000 square feetwith one beautiful oak tree. It was a really compelling project."She saw an opportunity to create an exemplary water-thrifty garden.
General contractor Gene Grealish, a neighbor whose daughtersattended the school, helped lead a rotating work crew of volunteerson alternate Saturdays for two years. Henry Haight's teachers gotinvolved. "On any given day when we came out to work on this, therewere always faculty members. There was a real sense of commitmentin the air."
The school's fourth- and fifth-graders helped propagate some of theplants. Students from Merritt College's Landscape Horticultureprogram pitched in.
Watts and her helpers ran into some unexpected problems: "Wethought we had Alameda sand to work with, but we didn't know therehad been pine trees on the site. I have a picture of Gene holdingone of the roots. It looks like a dead alligator."
She said funding, apart from a $7,500 East Bay Municipal UtilityDistrict Water-Smart Garden grant, was "beg, steal and borrow." Herinstinct for salvage paid off; Watts found 30 slabs of thin veneerplywood abandoned on the curb in front of a Home Depot and used thewood in making raised planting beds. Nurseries, includingBerkeley's Dry Garden, provided succulents and otherdrought-tolerant plants. In all, donated time and materialsamounted to $75,000.
Circular concrete planters, 11 to 16 feet across with rims thatdouble as seating walls, became the focal points. Right Away RedyMix in Oakland gave the school a generous price break.
"We used corrugated steel to make the outside," Watts said. "It's anice texture and it's less inviting to graffiti." The rims of theplanters were painted hot pink, lime green and bright blue, and theschool's new colors inspired the selection of plants: pink Cantuabuxifolia, burnt-orange kangaroo paw, cobalt ceanothus. "I neverhad so much fun planting," she recalled. Gray, gold and red pathfines top the planters as frosting/mulch and continue the festivecolors. Bright touches
In the newly planted garden, bright touches are everywhere. Eventhe tomato cages temporarily guarding the shrubs and the woodensupports for two new live oaks are vividly painted. Ceramic-platesigns designed and made by volunteer Karen Kidde give pointersabout water conservation. Pathways stained with iron sulfate echothe deep colors of salvaged, intricate rust-finished steeltrellises, a Watts signature of sorts.
Watts expects the garden to be relatively low-maintenance andsparing of resources. Water requirements will be minimal, the treeswon't require much pruning and weed cloth laid under it all shouldprevent unwelcome plant intruders. The volunteers have committedthemselves to maintaining the garden - and they'd welcome morehands; it's a great way to learn water-wise gardening from pros.Monetary donations would help cover the many outstanding expenses,too; see the box above for more information.
Henry Haight Elementary, where more than 30 languages are spokenand 40 percent of the students qualify for free lunches, has lostthat grim institutional look, and parents are now saying it betterreflects the warm, lively community they find inside.
"This area in front of the school was soulless, dispiriting,something to rush through on your way to class," said Grealish."Now it's someplace to gather, to plant and to learn."