In a sunny little courtyard on Chicago’s far Southwest Side, something other than plants sprouted last spring. Also growing here were independence and pride, two cherished crops for the gardeners1st graders with physical disabilities.
At the Blair Early Childhood Center, a Chicago Public Schools facility for physically challenged children ages 3 to 7, the 1st graders are the senior class, preparing themselves to graduate to assorted other schools and programs. Last year, the 13 kids in Barbara Freely and Emily Guinta’s class spent part of each week tending their garden, a courtyard off the main lobby of the school building at 6751 W. 63rd Pl.
They sprouted and tended seedlings indoors during winter and early spring, and, in the summer (when Blair’s school year continues), they filled the courtyard with potted hibiscus, begonias, geraniums, hydrangeas and other plants. On one wall of their garden, they painted a mural of plants and leaves, and on another, a set of tile mosaics of animals and plants hung above a small above-ground pond.
A raised bed held lettuce, tomatoes and potatoes.
Their garden was a classic, in some senses. “It has all the classic elements of a garden–plants, water, art,” said Rosalind Reed, an Oak Park garden designer and a judge in Home&Garden’s Glorious Gardens 99 contest. She and the panel’s other judges were delighted to see how much little hands could accomplish, and how such simple adaptations as raised planters could bring the adventure of gardening within reach of the disabled.
Although the Blair garden is hardly as elaborate as some gardens in the contest, our judges considered it one of the two best children’s gardens of the year because it demonstrated that virtually anyone can share in the pleasures of working with plants. Along with slides of their classroom’s garden, the teachers submitted a second class project, a book called “I’ll Help Make the Salad.”
In the children’s words, it recounted the simple story of picking, washing and eating lettuce and tomatoes grown in their garden. The children’s joy over what they accomplished bounced off each page.
Freely says the garden is a fertile place for teaching kids with disabilities. “There’s the science aspect, the idea that they’re nurturing life, the sensory stuff with rocks and soil in their hands, the independence, the fine motor skills,” she says, “and it’s also a chance to spend some time outside, which a lot of these kids don’t get much of.”
Working in the garden opened the door to another world for Aaron Tardy, who has since moved on to Chavez Elementary School. Though he walks with braces, his mother, Glenda Tardy, says, “It enlightened him to know that he could make something beautiful and positive grow, that with his problems he could still achieve that. He thinks that’s wonderful, and he still likes to go outside just to get his hands dirty and play with the flowers.”
Parents, too, were awakened to possibilities. Glenda Tardy says, “When you see them doing a garden like that, you realize there’s going to be a lot they can do.”
The garden didn’t stop when last year’s gardeners graduated. This year’s class now is busy growing dozens of cuttings that will go outside in the spring, with weekly encouragement from Gabriela Harvey of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s horticultural therapy program.
Nor does the gardening stop at the walls of the courtyard; last fall, the current group of kids planted tulips, hyacinths and other bulbs in the lawn outside their classroom’s windows, and, in recent weeks, they have been thrilled watching those bulbs sprout. “Plants really hold kids’ attention,” Freely says. “They love to look out there and say, `Ooh, I see something growing!’ “
THE BLAIR GARDENERS
Although the children who won part of our children’s gardening prize have moved on from the Blair Early Childhood Center, the garden they left behind still is a source of pride for all of them. The winning Blair gardeners are: Sam Barry, Alexis Brown, Bobbie Brown, Lenquesha Collins, Clarence Council, Jonathan Garcia, Daniela Hrvojevic, Derek Murray, Aaron Tardy, Elaine Valdovinos, Heidi Veeth, Marrianna Whaley and Tiara Yates.
