A woodland habitat is being created at Great Lakes Secondary School in Sarnia, to help the environment and beautify the Murphy Road site.
The garden was planted on Friday by students in the Environmental Studies class, with help from the Golden K Kiwanis Club.
Project Coordinator Mike Smalls said all of the plants being installed into the ground are native species.
"There are some choke cherries in here, some wild currants, and a birch will be put in here," said Smalls. "There will be a good collection of native herbaceous perennials. They'll flower at different times of the year."
Smalls said attracting pollinators is a big component of these gardens.
Students at GLSS in Sarnia plant a woodland habitat with help from the Golden K Kiwanis - May 5/23 (Sarnia News Today photo by Josh Boyce)
"When we think of pollinators, we usually think of honey bees. But those aren't native species, they are European honey bees." he said. "The truth is, there are about 800 species of native bees in this country that never get any attention, no one knows who they are. Most of them are solitary. They live in the ground and they live amongst twigs and debris. They don't make honey, but these native bees have been here for a millennium. They actually have a bigger role to play than the honey bees do. Every tree standing there, every oak, maple, poplar and birch gets pollinated. It's well beyond food production. It's not an option to lose our pollinators."
Smalls said the students gain a lot from the experience, and he's hopeful they will take their knowledge home and plant their own gardens.
"I'm sure for some of these kids, it's maybe the first time that they've ever shoveled dirt," he said. "If you're going to try and get the youth excited about being part of the environmental issues then they have to be in it. You can read books and you can watch videos or documentaries, but it's another aspect to be actually getting dirt under your fingernails."
Smalls expects the woodland to be in full bloom in a few years.
"The first year, you can't sometimes expect a lot because they're just getting into the ground and trying to grow some roots," he said. "That goes for anything, even if you buy it at a garden centre, there's just a big transition there. They were transplanted from something to something else, a pot into the ground. I would hope that in three years, this will be quite colourful and there will be pollinators buzzing around here. Maybe it can lead to something further on this property, or entice the kids to go home to their own properties and see it through a different lens."
Similar gardens will be planted this week at Queen Elizabeth Public School and London Road Public School.
