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 There
are various methods of greening schools, for example, the cultivation of groves,
landscaped gardens, lawns, shrubbery, garden plots, container plants, and the
setting up of planters, trellises and hanging baskets. The space and expenditure
requirements of each method are different. Hence, the future maintenance costs
also vary. Schools can make their own choice according to the size of the school
campus, the existing facilities and the available resources.
 General
speaking, an ideal way to green a school campus occupying a large piece of land
is to set up a beautiful landscape feature by means of grove, shrubbery and lawn.
Trees, ranged from several to over a dozen, can be planted at intervals from one
to several meters as the skeleton of the whole landscape. Shrubs can then be planted
to link them up so as to form a grove. This grove should occupy about 1/3 of the
total area with the remaining space to be turfed. In addition to beautifying the
environment, another consideration in plant selection is that the greater the
variety of plants, the richer the resources available for teaching. Species producing
dazzling flowers and berries may even be a source of food and a living habitat
for wild birds, adding an ecological touch to the school campus.
 To facilitate
the study of students, plant labels and information placards about ecological
system should be put up in the garden plots. With immense greening effect, the
above method is best used when a new school building is being constructed as the
design of the building and landscape can tie in with each other, creating a harmonious
effect. As the construction of the landscape is carried out concurrently with
the school building, the cost of graden construction is relatively small. The
future maintenance cost is also minimal too with major expense on mowing.
Today,
the school campuses are mostly built of concrete, occupying small areas. Notwithstanding
this, teachers and students have devoted great efforts to greening their school
campuses by various means and considerably improved the environments of their
schools, including:
| 1. | Setting
up a garden plot | |
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- Set up an amenity plot
and turn it into a focal point of the school.
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2. | Container
plant display | | |
| - Use
a variety of plants in different sizes and colours together with decorative pebbles
to set up a very beautiful container flower display.
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Made use of shade-loving plants to set up a container
flower display at a dim corner of the staircase may also bring green effects to
the area.
| | 3. | Planters |
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- Implement a large green programme in the
campus through optimized use of space by setting up planters this way.
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| 4. | Trellises |
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- Use trellises to beautify a smaller corner,
despite small in scale, the effect was rather good.
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| 5. |
Hanging baskets |
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- Use hanging baskets of plants to green
the school playground. Safety is the main concern with such use. The hanging baskets
should not be heavy and should have a rigid support. Hooks and wires used should
be of sufficient strength to hold the hanging baskets to prevent falling from
height and injury to passers-by.
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