Pacific Northwest Gardening: Garden bed by classroom, 0 by

wrote:
I have that one, too, and it's in the moist bed.
Oh Laurie, carnivorous plants are only one of the 'more interesting' things I like! Here are some of the pitcher plants I grow in the garden. I admit I forgot that you would not be in school during the summer so it would not get any water. It does have to have water. I used a container from the pond section of HD, but I've also used a large tupperware tub and it works just as well. You just poke small holes to allow slow drainage. Mine is fairly deep, so it takes a long time for it to dry out.

I can set you up with some pinguicula to grow on the windowsill inside as long as it's not hot and dry in there. If it's hot and dry because of a radiator or something, you can grow them in an aquarium with the top open. The kids will be fascinated by the sliminess of the leaves, and for a cool science project, just let some kid leave a half-eaten piece of fruit on the windowsill over the weekend. You'll get enough fruit flys to feed the plant for a year. Actually, they do good pest control in the greenhouse. I've seen craneflies and moths caught up in the sundew.

Since you need something that can take hot and dry summers, how about a mediterranean type garden with excellent drainage? I'm not a 'deer' expert, but I did think that the were less likely to eat things that have furry or strong tasting leaves like lavender, oregano, santolina, rosemary. Lots of those plants attract hummingbirds and butterflies. The High Country Gardens website has some nice ideas. You could do part of it with alpine plants. Oh, wait. These are little kids we're talking about. Forget the alpine part. They would lose interest.

Look for the xeriscaping plants.Here's the link to high country gardens: http://www.highcountrygardens.com/
Just for reference, you understand. Between the plant swap plants and stuff from our gardens to yours, we'd probably have you covered plant wise.