Mount Rainier Reading Garden
In 2000, NDC was given $20,000 by the TKF Foundation to install two Reading Gardens at elementary schools in Mount Rainier. This was under their Open Spaces, Sacred Spaces Program. The Mount Rainier Elementary School Reading Garden was installed on a small existing park site adjacent to the school playground. The park was in a state of disrepair. Local volunteer Landscape Designer JoAnna Viudez produced an inspired design which made the most of the existing hardscape but added many new interesting shrubs, perennials, and grasses to provide texture as well as an attracting environment for wildlife. NDC staff worked with a class of 2nd grade students each week for the spring semester introducing them to the joys of planting and how to make special paving stones. The class enjoyed the cement mixing best and a poetry writing session with a local poet. Volunteers from the community and NDC friends came together on three separate occasions to install all the plantings. The resulting space has been a tremendous asset for the community and the school.
Project Completion: 2002
Project Location: 4011 32nd Street Mount Rainier, MD
NDC Volunteer Landscape Designer: JoAnna Viudez
Links: TKF Foundation