A CLOSER LOOK

Those interested in becoming involved with the garden are encouraged to contact Lisa Morris at [email protected]. Volunteers are needed to help with planting and watering.

Also, those interested in purchasing a plant for the garden to remember or honor a family member or friend should go to www.capemspa.org and click on “CEMS Facade Planting” for more information.

Cape Elizabeth Middle School students have something new to look forward to in the fall – a garden.

During the summer, residents have been preparing the area in front of the school building for planting of a new garden, which will brighten up the now bare landscape.

The idea for the garden began about a year ago, when Cape residents Lisa Morris and Lindsay Alexander volunteered to maintain the plants on the Cape Elizabeth Middle School grounds. Both were avid gardeners, and the lack of plants in front of the school inspired them to go beyond caring for the plants already there.

The idea quickly caught on in the community. Parents, members of the town public works department, Jordan and Maxwell farms and enthusiastic residents have pitched in to make a Middle School Garden in Cape Elizabeth a reality. Most recently, volunteers completed soil preparation.

Landscape designer Mary Hodgkin donated plans for the garden. Though planting will not take place until September because of the heat, Hodgkin and others have already decided which types of plants will adorn the garden, including flowering shrubs such as lilacs and rhododendrons.

Hodgkin said that because of the building’s size, she wanted to work large plantings into the landscape. She chose birch trees, river and yellow, which are native to Maine.

“I have an inclination to plant native plants wherever possible,” said Hodgkin.

For years, there have been no plants on the middle school grounds. Historically, the building was covered in ivy and lined by rhododendrons, but Hodgkin said she suspects they were pulled up when the ivy was removed.

“It’s a beautiful building and it really should have landscaping that will set it off,” said Hodgkin.

Those involved with this project hope the garden will be more to the community than an aesthetically pleasing patch of land. An important objective is to teach ownership to children. Teachers and Girl Scout troop leaders are planning to work with students, planting bulbs and making steppingstones and markers to add to the garden.