Katie101
Registered: December 2014
City/Town/Province: Ann Arbor
Posts: 1
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I love being outdoors and, when I have an opportunity to do something for the environment, I do it. My project was to plant flowers, shrubs, and a tree in three-twelve foot diameter planters that are located on the front lawn of Tappan Middle School, adjacent to Stadium Boulevard, a major street that leads to downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan from the expressway and passes by The University of Michigan football stadium. This stretch of the road has always bothered me, as probably it has for the many thousands of people including students, neighborhood residents, and out-of-town visitors, who pass this area each day by foot, bike, bus, and car, because the landscaping is not maintained. The middle school is set back from the road, up on a hill, making it look a bit scary with a few dead trees near the front entrance. The planters are some distance from the school and from one another near the road. During the summer, when it is most noticeable, the grass and weeds grow freely and the school looks unfortunately like an old abandoned building. There are beautiful carvings surrounding the school entrance depicting areas of scholarly pursuit. It is a shame that the landscape does not match the beauty and message of the carvings. Due to budget cuts, the school district mows the lawn once a month during the summer and does little else on the property. About seven years ago, the Ann Arbor School District tried to spruce up the property by putting up three large brick planters, one around a new electronic message board and the other two around mature trees, with one tree unfortunately dying. The planters are full of weeds and tall grass and, sometimes, garbage. As a result, I identified a need in the community, one I gladly took on because I love being outdoors. While a student in the eighth and ninth grades, I decided to visually improve part of the entranceway to the City of Ann Arbor along a stretch of Stadium Boulevard starting in the fall of 2013 and continuing throughout 2014.
My goal was to plant hardy, colorful perennials and to replace the missing tree so future maintenance of the planters would require little work while looking neat and pretty for passing motorists and individuals walking or jogging by. After receiving the go-ahead from school officials, I began my project by cleaning out the planters. Planter #1 was the planter farthest from the school and had a large, mature tree in the center; planter #2 was the middle planter with the large stump and was the most difficult to clean; and planter #3 had the school electronic message board and four rose shrubs, two of which were dead. Planters #1 and #2 each had a dark heavy cloth tarp meant to stop weed growth, but over time, the weeds and grass grew through the fabric making it impossible to pull them and to plant bulbs unless the tarp was completely removed. This was a big problem especially for planter #2 where the absence of a tree resulted in full sun for the weeds and grass to grow wild and for a very large colony of black ants to call home. Now, I could understand why no one wanted to touch these planters, especially planter # 2! I left planter #2 for last.
While I was preparing planters #1 and #3 to plant the perennials, I spoke with a landscape architect and a landscaper from a local nursery in Ann Arbor, to get advice on the types of perennials to plant – ones that have color, are easy to maintain, and live through spring, summer, and fall. I did my own internet research on this as well. I wanted to plant perennials so that the beauty of the flowers would be present every year and my project would be sustained beyond my involvement. Unfortunately, there is no single perennial that would work except for the rose shrub, which is a perennial that blooms through three seasons. I removed the dead rose shrubs from planter #3, replaced them with new ones, the “Knock Out” rose, and pruned the other two. As the rose shrubs would not work under the trees, the question remained what to plant in the other planters. Most perennials bloom for one season, planting three different perennials in one planter was impractical due to space limits and more upkeep. After many discussions, I settled on planting two perennials in the planters. As fall was approaching, I decided on mums, perennials that would provide color for late summer and fall. The cashier at Home Depot was excited about my project that she gave me a discount on the mums and topsoil. I planted twenty purple mums around the tree in planter #3 and six white mums in planter #1 with the rose shrubs and the electronic sign. In the cleaning process, I removed thirteen fifty-pound bags of weeds and grass from these two planters! As planter # 3 had a tarp, I had to use special fabric scissors to cut holes in the tarp large enough for the mums to fit. This took a lot of hard work, but nothing compared to planter #2. I watered the mums and rose shrubs every other day or so with water from home that I put in many containers in the car and my mom would drive me to the school. The mums and rose shrubs looked beautiful and I received many compliments from people walking by or motorists honking their horns and giving me the thumbs up or yelling “thank you!” As the weather got colder, I trimmed the mums, preparing them for winter, but, unfortunately, as this past winter was especially harsh, the mums did not survive.
The other perennial I planted were daffodil bulbs. I chose daffodils over tulips because squirrels prefer tulip bulbs and daffodil bulbs are hardier. I initially thought of planting perennials that matched the school colors – white and blue. I easily picked a white daffodil called Ice Follies, which blooms in mid-spring, to plant in all three planters, but finding a blue perennial was difficult! So, I dropped that idea. As I really wanted people to say “wow” when they passed the school in the spring, I planted about 350 bulbs in each planter.
Planter #2 was the biggest eyesore on the street and the biggest obstacle for me. I thought getting approval to do the project would be the hardest task, but the school administrators were more than happy when I stepped up and volunteered to help spruce up the school property. Dealing with planter #2, which everyone agreed that the tarp needed to go, seemed insurmountable, but was where I learned the most about myself. I felt overwhelmed with the amount of work that needed to be done, but knew I had to move ahead in order to finish the project especially since the other two planters looked good and were completed. The weeds and grass had woven the tarp into the dirt, making it impossible to lift the tarp off the ground. To address this problem, I broke the project down into smaller, doable parts such as working on a quarter of the planter at a time, cutting small sections of the tarp with the fabric scissors until the entire tarp was removed. If the yanking and ripping of tarp was not enough, I had to contend with a huge colony of black ants that managed to crawl into my gloves and the rest of my clothing. I really did not think I could finish this part, but I did. I removed eleven fifty-pound bags of debris from planter #2 alone! This obstacle was not only physically challenging, but also mentally because time was running out as the weather was getting colder and I needed to plant the tree. I can only imagine what people driving by must have thought seeing me cutting up the tarp, but I did not care or pay attention because I had to get the job done. I learned that what seems like an obstacle can be tackled with a realistic plan for action, focus, and hard work. I also learned from parents that stopped by to talk to me that, if you see a problem and have a solution, go ahead and inquire about taking a lead to solve it. I found that other people might have had the same idea, but were too afraid to ask or did not know they could go ahead and deal with it. I guess that is the definition of a leader.
Once I removed the tarp, I still had to pick and plant the tree in planter #2. After several discussions, research, and a trip to the nursery, I wanted to plant a tree native to Michigan that went with the other trees on the street and picked a Redpoint Sunset Maple, which is a fast-growing tree with brilliant red fall color. When the landscaper came to plant the tree at the school, we found that a stump was hidden deep into the planter and needed to be removed before the tree could be planted. This stump was extremely large and only a few stump grinders in the area had the right equipment to remove the stump and create a hole that measures four feet wide by twenty inches deep. In addition, the stump-grinding machine had to get over the lip of the planter, which stands almost two feet off the ground. Another obstacle! The landscaper suggested that I speak with a particular stump grinding company, and I arranged with Uri, after he returned from his hunting trip, to remove the stump, but he first needed to get a city permit and contact Ms. Dig regarding underground pipes and lines. I honestly believed that I would never plant this tree, but, on a sunny November morning with a few snowflakes fluttering around us, the landscapers brought the maple back to the school and helped me plant it in planter #2. One of the landscapers who was a Boy Scout in his youth, explained how to care for the tree in the spring and when to remove the stakes. Mission accomplished! A half hour later, those few snowflakes turned into the year’s first snowstorm!
The 1,000 daffodils that bloomed in the spring lining Stadium Boulevard looked fantastic to me and to others! While tending to the planters, many strangers from their cars or bikes or people walking by thanked me, showing appreciation. Parents would stop by and tell me that these planters were bugging them as well because they looked so bad, but they had no idea that they could do something about them, believing that the school board or school principal was responsible for the upkeep of the planters. By spending a couple hours a week, watering the maple tree, trimming the rose shrubs, and pulling a few weeds here and there, the amount of time spent was little in comparison to the incredible value of the project. I hope when the students have grown and have their own families they would be involved with their children to maintain public school property for all to enjoy. They would also realize that the amount of time and energy put into the project is minimal considering the years of enjoyment and satisfaction knowing that they had a role in making their community a better place to live.
The most successful part of my project was twofold. First, planting the tree gave me the feeling of accomplishment. The tree completes the road in front of the school. In a few years when the tree grows taller, it will look like it always belonged there. I can take pride that I did that! Second, in the spring, not only did the daffodils look beautiful, but red tulips bloomed around the entrance of the school that were planted by students from the school who saw me working on the planters in the fall. It was nice to learn that people noticed that I was addressing a problem and that I inspired others to take action and make their school look beautiful. In addition, I believe that out-of-town visitors will have a positive feeling traveling down Stadium Boulevard to reach downtown Ann Arbor or The University of Michigan campus when they see that the school and city is nicely maintained.
When I pass by the school, I take pride in knowing that I made a difference through my hard work and talking to others in making my community a better place to live. I know more about the environment, the types of plants and trees native to Michigan, how to plant a tree, what to do with a large tree stump in the ground on city property, and talking to people about different issues. I learned how to tackle an overwhelming problem by breaking it down into doable portions and speaking to others to get advice on how to continue. I addressed an issue that no one thought to deal with for almost a decade. I thought in the beginning, as many parents that I spoke to believed, that someone else was going to do something about the problem, but I found over time that nothing was being done and probably nothing would be done unless I stepped up and did something. Knowing that I made difference gives me the confidence to do other projects to help the environment in the future.
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