Roses

We like roses because they are beautiful. In our garden we grow five different kinds of roses. We have red roses. We have pink roses. We also have white roses. Our roses are planted in wooden boxes that our parents built with lumber from Home Depot. We helped fill the boxes with soil and compost that came here in a big dump truck. We shoveled the soil into buckets and carried the buckets to the garden in a wagon.

Our roses usually bloom in spring and summer. Some of us have birthdays in spring. That means that sometimes we can watch them bloom, then pick them and put them in vases. Some of the roses grow tall. Some of the roses grow small. Some grow thick. Some grow thin. One of our roses grows like a vine. We're teaching it to climb up the side of our building. The rose can go in our hair or on hats. You can pick the petals and put them on your shirt or you can just put the petals in a bowl because they smell like perfume.

You can also put rose petals in your bathtub because they smell so good. and you can light a candle. But you need to close the door before the air blows the candle out. My mom used to do that with me a lot when I was four.

By the After 4 Crew (Nia, Princess, Leila, Chrestina, Aiyana)

Painting the herb container...

About Us

Studio City Garden is a blog of, by and for the children of Children's Studio School, a public charter school in Washington, DC, where children aged three to 11 learn through the arts. In early 2006, the staff and parents of Children's Studio School planned to re-establish a garden on an empty lot near the school at 1301 V St. NW, about a mile from the White House. However, a new owner of the lot discouraged us from coming onto the property. As a result, we decided to build a container garden on a 1,600-square-foot, asphalt-covered area adjacent to the school building. With some financial aid from the local community, we did not stop building our wooden containers until the entire area was covred with containers. We used two truck-loads of soil/compost mixture--or 18 cubic yards--to fill the containers, and soon planted numerous varieties of flowers and vegetables, almost all of them from seed.

We have harvested our vegetables and lettuces and served them in the school lunchroom. This year we formed a group of children from our after-school program to focus on garden related activities and to take responsibility for this blog. We hope to write on a regular basis to keep you informed about our activities, and will post pictures so that everyone can view the progress of our garden.

By Ed Bruske, parent volunteer

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