Emma Scott Garden Club helps students with butterfly project
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ELKINS -- Members from the Emma Scott Garden Club recently helped students from Sara Wamsley's fourth-grade class at Midland Elementary School clean and mulch their Native Butterfly Pollinator gardens.
The ESGC constructed the Native Butterfly Garden, which is made up of an array of plants from West Virginia, at the school four years ago.
"We usually go up twice a year and tend to the gardens," said ESGC President Linda Shomo. "We weed it out once a year and it gets a really heavy mulching. It's very important that we do that in order to keep it healthy. Plus it also helps beautify the landscape. The kids were excited and they had a good time cleaning up the garden."
Shomo said the ESGC originally built gardens to help the students get over one of their fears and help them learn important things about the environment along the way.
"The reason we did it is because Sara (Wamsley) said her students were afraid of bees," Shomo said. "So she wanted to teach the students how important bees were. So we decided to put the butterfly garden in so we could teach the kids about bees and how important they are to the environment."
Shomo said the students have learned many things since the Garden Club put the gardens in at the school.
"The students aren't as afraid of bees like they were," she said. "Plus they're learning about native plants and landscaping -- what to weed and what to plant. They are learning about monarch butterflies and they have actually hatched some in their classroom and released them. The monarchs and bees like the specific plants we put in the gardens, so we have three varieties of milkweed in the gardens -- the monarchs love milkweed."
Shomo added that the ESGC was going to be putting up two new butterfly gardens in downtown Elkins.
"We are going to divide some plants out of the Midland garden and put them in two new butterfly gardens at the Youth Relocation Center on South Davis Avenue," she said. "We are going to put beautiful gardens on each side of the sidewalks leading to the main doors of the Center. While we are doing it, we will teach the kids how to landscape and take care of them. Plus they will learn about the native plants of West Virginia, butterflies and bees."
The ESGC is always willing to teach and work with young people so that they develop an interest in gardening. ESGC members who were present during the work at Midland Elementary included Allan Swanson, Judy Guye, Pat Mayes, Renee Benz, Bonnie Braciaroli, Katy McClane, Bobbi Trimboli and Charles Shomo.
The Emma Scott Garden Club is currently accepting new members. If anyone is interested in joining, please contact B.J. McKenzie at 304-614-3079 by June 1.