DIGGING IN: Children and Plants Grow Together In Marble Elementary School’s Garden

The intersection of art and education is on full display in Marble School’s Garden. Created in what was once a sparse stretch of grass framed by Marble Elementary's brick walls, the garden has become a central part of the school itself and of students' interaction with their world.

I spoke with former Marble teacher Marlene Cosgrove, one of the original organizers of the garden who is still in charge of its maintenance, to learn more about this East Lansing attraction.

What started as a few beds of tulips about 23 years ago, has grown into the full-fledged garden that exists today, complete with raised beds with annuals, an alphabet garden, a butterfly garden and vegetables. Cosgrove and a fellow teacher were working in a new addition to the building and noticed that the view outside their windows seemed barren. They decided to plant two garden plots of tulips in this empty grass space and, Cosgrove informed me, “It seems like every year since then we added stuff to the garden until it is what it is today.”

Children are now able to witness a variety of things growing in the garden, and can also participate as gardeners, Cosgrove explained, “I like to have the kids grow potatoes because it's fun for them in the fall to dig them up. I bring the potatoes home, clean them, mash them and take them back to school and the kids can have mashed potatoes as a snack. The other thing that I would do is I have carrots and everybody gets to pull up a carrot and again I bring them home, clean them and bring them back and they can have them with dip the next day.”

Students are also able to engage with the garden through their artwork. Cosgrove told me that, “Our art teacher, Sabrina Arceo has done a lot of projects with the students and their artwork is in the garden. Right now, there's a big butterfly on the garden wall that some of her children refurbished and just put out. I've had some ceramic suns and some stepping stones.”

Cosgrove's favorite memories of the garden come from the all-school garden days that she hosts at the end of May, in which every class comes out and does an activity in the garden which might involve weeding, planting or mulching. As the retired teacher shared with me, “On all-school garden day, kids are excited about planting something, and then after they plant it they come back the next week and say 'Oh, there's what I planted' or 'There's what I did' and that really is the best part of the garden for me.”

The success of the garden is the product of hard work from a significant number of people, including parents and other community members such as Cosgrove's master-gardening friends. Anyone with an interest in gardening is welcome to help out in the Marble Garden and the general public is encouraged to come enjoy all that the garden has to offer.

For information on how to volunteer, contact Marlene Cosgrove at cosgrovemarlene@att.com.

Photos: Dominic Ortiz Kehoe