Landscape designer Anna van Lynden recently gave the organizers of the new Columbia Falls Wildcat Peace Garden some food for thought as she unrolled pieces of transparent paper marked with penciled layouts of the garden components.

She stacked the different layers on a table in a conference room at Columbia Falls Junior High School at a committee meeting to show the full visual of what the garden will look like and to springboard a discussion of how to make the garden versatile. The committee includes teachers, administrators, students, local business owners and master gardeners such as Lynden.

Spearheading the garden initiative is Shari Johnson, a sixth- through eighth-grade counselor and a master gardener, with assistance from Montana State University Agriculture Extension Agent Pat McGlynn and Brent Sarchet, Lewis and Clark County Montana State University extension agent.

“I wanted to get kids more involved in their community and in nature — something that will take them outside interacting with nature and other people. There’s a wider scope of kids that need something to be connected to,” Johnson said, noting that students of all academic backgrounds — agriculture, art, science and shop — have a part to play in its creation and care. 

This is not just an ordinary school garden. While it will provide a natural outdoor classroom for students and a relaxing space for community members to enjoy — science will take root through a test orchard of 39 apple, pear and plum trees. Arrival of the trees is anticipated at the end of the month. 

Once planted, students and teachers will collect data over three years and report to the Extension Service. These same trials are being replicated in Power, Helena, Bozeman, Colstrip, Hinsdale and Billings through a state Department of Agriculture grant, according to Sarchet. 

“I needed a location for this research plot, so I threw it out to my master gardeners to see if anyone knew of a place,” McGlynn said. “Shari said the school would be interested, and I was very excited to work with students and teachers [to conduct] research and learn about agriculture, how to collect data and do reports.”

The test orchards should provide a statistical analysis of survivability, production, harvest weight and size.

“These are testing varieties that let folks know what will be either commercially viable or for homeowners’ backyards,” Johnson said.

After the research is completed the hope is that produce may be abundant enough to complement the school lunch program or donate to community food banks.

The project is moving right along on the strip of fenced land located just outside the main entrance of the school, in front of the parking lot. Since that meeting the end of March, the ground has been contoured, disked and is ready for planting.

The garden will feature a pergola, storage shed, walkways, gathering spaces, vegetable plots and native plants, among other possible ideas such as a sundial.

“The gathering space, in my vision, is an intimate area where classes can come to gather,” van Lynden said. “It’s inviting, it’s warm, it’s all about nature.”

Students also will help with construction of the garden. Dave Ritter’s junior high art classes are going to create garden signs denoting the entrance and native plants. Joe Welch’s eighth-grade shop class is building the pergola and high school shop classes are slated to build the storage shed.

“I happen to have a small class that will work really well for this,” Welch said. “When I talk about it, they start to get excited that they’re going to have something that they can say, ‘I built that.’”

Student investment and pride in their school and community is the hope of everyone involved in the garden.

Eighth-grader Jonah Smith is one of the student representatives on the garden committee who was asked by Johnson to help with the design.

“She knew I was good with CAD programs,” Smith said. “I also helped a bit designing my family’s garden.”

This garden will be an upgrade from the school’s current outdoor classroom located by the Peace Garden. The space is used for music practice or for quiet class activities such as reading. Smith pointed out a school office window to its location.

“You can see on the other side of that hill there are rows of rock used for seating. Classes will go out there and use that as their classroom when the weather is nice,” Smith said.

 A natural windbreak is planned to create a microclimate for the garden. Johnson hopes as the trees and plants mature it will become a space to enjoy year-round. The garden location nearby the Montana Veterans Home and other retirement communities will be conducive to bringing residents and students together for projects, which Johnson is very excited about.

Grants have helped get the Wildcat Peace Garden off the ground. They include $5,000 from the Plum Creek Foundation, $1,500 from Flathead Electric Cooperative and the students’ own investment in their school — $5,500 from the Columbia Falls Junior High student council.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.