Primrose School of Woodbury to build community garden

• Planting roots

Primrose School of Woodbury will be building a community garden this fall at the CityWalk Apartments development property across from the school.

Talk about it

Primrose School of Woodbury will be adding a little color to the new CityWalk Apartments development.

The early education center will be building a community garden when the housing development opens this fall.

“We wanted to have something that would tie the community of CityWalk together and that would invite the neighbors,” Primrose owner Tonya Holt said. “We wanted to make sure we had something pretty and pleasing and friendly for all of Woodbury to enjoy.”

Primrose will be raising money for the community garden during its Spring Fling from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 7.

Half of all proceeds from the event will go toward the community garden.

Every year half of the money brought in during the Spring Fling – the school’s carnival – goes toward the Primrose Children’s Foundation and half goes to charity of the school’s choice.

“Last year we donated to the Children’s Miracle Network, but this year we’ll be using the funding to create this environment,” Holt said. “However our staff, children and families will be providing the blood, sweat and tears.”

Bringing the community together

Back when CityWalk was still in the planning stages, Tom Hayden, the developer, was looking for proposals of how to utilize a 1,000 square foot community space at the corner of the property.

Such proposals as a community vegetable garden were received.

But it was Primrose’s proposal that ultimately won over the developer.

The proposal is for a community garden that would act as a butterfly and bird habitat.

The community garden will include primarily perennial plants and flowers, but with some annuals mixed in. The garden will include birdhouses, benches, an arbor and a mulched trail.

Holt said the hope is that the community garden will attract more Woodbury residents to the CityWalk area.

“Our goal is to create this neighborhood as a destination for Woodbury,” she said.

Holt said the school will be responsible for planting the garden.

“Our teaching team, volunteers from our school and our students will work together to plant that,” she said.

Lending a helping hand

The community garden will also bring a wealth of educational opportunities to the school, Holt said.

“They’re gonna learn community preservation, they’re gonna learn community mindedness, they’re gonna learn science, they’re gonna learn habitat,” Holt said. “They’re going to learn all kinds of wonderful things.”

The first educational opportunity will be with the school’s “helping hands” curriculum.

“We have an entire curriculum surrounding children learning responsibility for their community without the promise of return,” Holt said.

The garden will contribute by teaching the students to give back to the community through maintaining the garden.

The second educational opportunity will be with Primrose’s “mud pies” curriculum — essentially the school’s science curriculum.

The garden allows students to learn about plants, habitats, nature and how to help things grow. Students will help with planting and growing the flowers as well as creating the butterfly and bird habitat.

Primrose School of Woodbury will be having its annual Spring Fling May 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day will include various games and activities. Cost is $.50 per ticket and all activities are between one and eight tickets. The community is welcome.

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