The National Gardening Association (NGA) announced the winners of the second annual "Remember Me" Rose School Garden Awards. The award is sponsored by MessengerR and Edmunds' Roses.
The 20 winning schools will each receive 10 rose bushes, Messenger, and educational materials with which to create peace gardens to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001. The gardens are intended to catalyze and support training in conflict resolution and mediation skills that prepare students to seek and achieve fair and peaceful solutions to conflicts.
"All too often we forget that our children need a safe place where they can focus within. 'Remember Me' Rose School Garden Awards gives them an opportunity to create their own space that is positive, uplifting, and reflects the cycle of life renewing each year," says Sue Casey, Founder and President of "Remember Me" Rose Garden (www.remember-me-rose.org), a nonprofit organization creating remembrance rose gardens at each of the three major 9/11 crash sites.
The lead sponsor of the "Remember Me" School Garden Awards is Messenger, a product of Eden Bioscience Corporation. "We are proud to be a sponsor of this award, says Robin Ross of EDEN Biosciences. "Gardens are a place of peace, tranquility, and refuge, and few gardens are more beautiful than rose gardens. It is our hope that the kids involved with this program develop a lifelong love of gardening, because it fosters peace and well-being."
2006 "Remember Me" Rose School Garden Award Winners
- Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, Buckeye, AZ
- Cesar E. Chavez Science Magnet School, Bakersfield, CA
- Bahia Vista Elementary School, San Rafael, CA
- Dubnoff Center, North Hollywood, CA
- Buena Vista Elementary School, Colorado Springs, CO
- Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, St. Augustine, FL
- Davis Elementary School, Trenton, GA
- Malcom Bridge Middle School, Bogart, GA
- North Oldham Middle School, Goshen, KY
- Youth Enrichment Center at Hilton-Winn Farm, Cape Neddick, ME
- Central High School, Springfield, MO
- Port Jervis Middle School, Port Jervis, NY
- Little Tor Elementary School, New City, NY
- Pleasant Valley Elementary School, Brecksville, OH
- New Urban High School, Milwaukie, OR
- Franciscan Montessori Earth School, Portland, OR
- 4-H Wildlife Stewards, Dallas, OR
- St. Vincent's School, Salt Lake City, UT
- Champlain Islands Parent-Child Centers, Alburgh, VT
- South Shore Schools, Port Wing, WI
The National Gardening Association's efforts are focused on plant- and garden-based education for children and youth, and on providing sound and useful information to gardeners. Visit www.garden.org to learn more. For information on gardening with children, and award opportunities for schools and youth organizations, visit www.garden.org/schoolgrants.