Wild Ones started working with Bloom Elementary in 2023, when Hart Hagan and Lynn
Horrar met with Catherine Graeber, Mindfulness Coach, to go over plans for adding native
plants to the planters on the school grounds that contained several non-native plants and
vegetables. She was using this as part of her outdoors classroom and was very excited to add
pollinator plants to educate her students about their benefits and conservation.
She applied for the Re-Wilding grant, got it, and we planted over a dozen native plants in those
containers. She has since been able to gather parent and student volunteers to help with
weeding and is currently working on plans to add a reading garden. The volunteers have made
a good effort to remove the Liriope that was in that area. We presented Catherine with a plan for
adding native plants, which she will work on acquiring in stages.
We also donated nature books to the school.
*A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long (beautifully written and illustrated)
*The Reason for a Flower: A Book About Flowers, Pollen and Seeds by Ruth Heller
*Animals Help Plants by Mary Lindeen
*Who’s Munching My Milkweed by Smoky Zeidel
In addition, Catherine has created a website about the Bloom Garden Project
https://sites.google.com/jefferson.kyschools.us/bloomgardenproject/home
The Bloom Garden Project raised over seven thousand dollars for its garden!
And there was yet another event:
