And so it begins!

After recruiting a great group of interns and staff, Project Invigorate was ready to have its first meeting! After introductions from the staff, the interns, what is Project Invigorate, and an overview of the precedence that Sustainable Horticulture Learning by Leading program has set up, the group toured the school.

The interns were able to observe sites that Sustainable Horticulture were able to convert into native, water-efficient, or otherwise ecologically bene

ficial landscapes. The tour ended at the first working site for the interns.

There, the coordinators gave a brief lesson in Landscape Design 101. They went over how to do thorough site analysis, how to select appropriate plants, and learning about the client, which would be the community at Marguerite Montgomery Elementary School (MME). One fun, but practical, activity the interns participated in was to measure their paces. This is a great tool to estimate distances on site.

Finally, the interns began to brainstorm themes for the first site--geometric, natural, etc. These themes could become a basis for an initial design, which they would be completing before the next meeting.