Grandma’s Gardens Hopes Donations Lead to Love of Trees

By Pamela Ferris-Olson Contributing Writer

CENTERVILLE — Centerville sixth-graders and students at Centerville Primary Village South turned green last week when Clearcreek Twp. garden center Grandma’s Gardens distributed 2,000 seedlings.

The project was the idea of Doug Rhinehart, president and founder of Grandma’s, located on Ohio 48 near the junction of Ohio 73.

Grandma’s Marybeth Taggart said the donation was directed primarily at sixth-graders because they study plant biology.

“It seemed like a good way to tie in with their current lessons and spark or further an interest in plant life,” Taggart said.

The program coordinated well with Arbor Day which, in Ohio, is the last Friday in April. During the first Arbor Day in 1872, more than a million trees were planted. About 2,000 six- to 12-inch, native red maple saplings were distributed to sixth-graders at Centerville’s middle schools, the Miami Valley School and students at Primary Village South.

Taggart hopes students will learn about the benefits of trees, such as producing of shade, which reduces air-conditioning costs in the summer, and absorbing carbon dioxide, a gas responsible in part for global warming.

“People have a tendency to forget trees once they’re established in the landscape,” Taggart said.

At the Miami Valley School, sixth-graders are actively involved in projects designed to make a difference throughout the winter and spring. Health and social studies teacher Patti DeLotell said her 41 students discuss raising awareness about global issues.

“A major topic is how humans adapt to the environment and how humans adapt the environment to suit their needs,” DeLotell said.

Among the social and environmental projects that DeLotell’s students tackled this year were a plastics recycling program for their school and a daylong field trip to work with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division to study fresh water stream health, learn about watersheds and Ohio wildlife, observe coyotes and turkeys, and release pheasants into the wild and plant trees.

Grandma’s also donated seven larger red maples to Primary Village South for landscaping the grounds around the building that was completed in time for the 2007-08 school year. Students in the K-1 school are involved in three garden projects this spring: a meadow, a butterfly garden and a garden maze.

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