 Haden garden is home to several trees, like this mature, bright orange maple. |  Dipesh and William were a great help in planting iris rhizomes in the front of the school last week. |   Ginkgo's unique, fan-shaped leaves will soon fall. |
This past week at J.R.H.S., kids identified 4 of the trees that are growing in Haden Gardens. Specifically, the Sumac, Ginkgo, Maple and Crabapple (we have two) trees. The kids collected leaves from each tree and learned to recognize their importance within ecosystems as well as each tree's unique leaf form. For instance, the Sumac, we learned, has deeply cut, scarlet red autumn leaflets and conical shaped fruit (only in female plants) and has velvety soft branches resembling deer antlers, hence the name "Staghorn Sumac." Drought-tolerant Sumac grows on slopes and in other tough-to-grow places while helping to control soil erosion and providing food for birds. Haden Garden is also home to a Ginkgo tree, or a 'Dinosaur tree', which is one the oldest trees in existence, having survived the Jurassic period 350million years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Ginkgo's fan shaped, distinctive yellow autumn leaves still haven't fallen, but will soon, especially with current cold temperatures and diminished daylight. During a warm day last week, a few of the kids (seen above) even had the chance to plant iris rhizomes in the garden near front of the school last week, making sure the rhizomes were not planted too deeply so they wouldn't rot. They are fantastic budding gardeners for sure.
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