Highland School Xeriscape Garden Applic

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DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: 1. We are planning a xeriscape garden in a courtyard area between our gym and a classroom wing of our school. The xeriscape garden will utilize plants that do not require vast amounts of water. Within the larger garden will be a 200 sq. ft. flowerbed that will require no water and will have no weeds. This will be accomplished by using DeWitt Sunbelt weed barrier and mixing into the soil 20 lbs. of cross-linked polymer to absorb the rain water and hold it there for the flowers to use as they need. We will also use the DeWitt Sunbelt weed barrier and the cross- linked polymer in the other areas of the garden. This will allow for the entire garden area, not just the flowerbed, to be virtually weed free and to use little, if any, water besides the natural rainfall. The plant materials chosen will provide an environment capable of sustaining various birds and insect species, which will allow for unlimited educational opportunities. We have moved towards making both math and science more hands on learning experiences. This xeriscape garden would be another means of making the hands on approach to learning available to students, teachers and the community. The garden's presence will give us the oppor- tunity to educate the members of our communities on the practicality and affordability of xeriscape gardening. It will also allow us to enhance the research that has already been done and is being done on the use of cross-linked polymers to create gardens and landscapes that require very little if any watering outside of the natural rainfall (limited as it is in our area). We have already completed Phase I of our project. Tim Katers, Community Development Specialist, with the Colorado Department of Local Affairs arranged to have a CSU Landscape architecture student design a xeriscape garden for our courtyard area. Prior to his drawing he spent an afternoon with Mrs. Schlagel's third grade class getting ideas from them on how they would like to see the area look. The student was contracted through the CSU Cooperative Extension. Our Building Accountability Team received the initial drawing at our May, 1992, meeting. I met with Tim and Bill to go over the final drawings and plant specifications in late August of 1992. The plans have been reviewed by teachers, parents, students and our School Board. We plan to implement Phase II during April of 1993. Parents have volunteered to corne in with tractors and equipment to work the ground and prepare it for planting. The preparation would include working into the ground 1 cubic yard of ground mountain peat, 2 lbs. of superphosphate per 100 sq. ft., and 10 lbs. of cross-linked polymers per 100 sq. ft. These materials along with the specific plants chosen will enable us to use a minimum amount of water, if any water, to maintain a beautiful outdoor learning area. The planting will continue throughout the spring and summer with parents, students, teachers and community help. 2. In order to monito~ the change in water use we will set up both rain and watering guages not only in the new area but also in a courtyard area we currently have grass and flowers growing. We will continue to water the the front courtyard as we have in the past. We will water the new area on an as needed basis and compare the amounts of water used at bi-monthly intervals. Any suggestions you might be able to share with us in this area would be appreciated.