Submitted by STEVE JASIECKI
MARGATE - Students, teachers and parents planted native plants in the Eugene A. Tighe Middle School courtyard Saturday, Oct. 16. The courtyard formerly was home to a vegetable garden.
The planting project was designed to teach and raise awareness about the beneficial aspects and the relationship between plants, insects and the birds that feed on them.
William H. Ross School teacher Jessica Cuevas, who also managed the vegetable garden for 14 years, thought it was time for a change so she presented the Board of Education with an idea of planting native plants in the garden instead of the traditional ornamental plants and flowers that are planted for esthetic reasons.
The concept of planting localized, native plants is growing as more popular and many communities are adding native plants to their gardens to support the local wildlife and pollinators.
Insects, birds and other pollinators co-evolved along with plants of their region, creating a symbiotic relationship. This relationship enables them to thrive, supporting each other through reproduction (pollination) and creating a food web that we call a food chain. When we break this chain by removing any of its links - be it a plant, insect or animal - we jeopardize the ecosystem and a decline in their population ensues.
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In 2016, the Sustainable Margate green team planted a native species demonstration garden outside the Margate City Municipal Building to showcase a variety of native plants that support the local insect and bird population. Native plants are not only beneficial to the pollinator and bird population, but they can also be quite attractive. The garden has attracted many of the necessary pollinators that feed upon the plants that sustain them and is a step towards increasing their populations.
With pollinators such as butterflies, birds, bees and bat populations in decline, along with the insects they feed upon, communities and individual residents are embracing the movement of planting native plants and pollinator gardens to help re-establish their populations.
Cuevas wanted to transition and embrace this movement by establishing a native plant garden at the Tighe School. She applied for and received an $800 grant from the Margate Education Foundation to purchase the plants.
Cuevas and her husband Bob Blumberg, who is a gardener and a member of the Sustainable Margate green team, presented their plan to the Margate school board for its approval. The board not only accepted their plan, they were enthusiastic about it and contributed ideas on how students will see first-hand how the science of nature and biology plays out.
