Outdoor Club Students Get Their Hands Dirty

Students in the Outdoor Activity Club at Somers Intermediate School (SIS) got their hands dirty while digging up dahlias and preparing them for winter storage. 

“A close relative handed me about 10 dahlia tubers from his garden six years ago,” Ms. Beth Monteleone said. “This club started four years ago and we’re still planting those same tubers.”

Students first learned how dahlias are not bulbs like some other flowers but are tubers and are a part of the aster family, along with daisies, sunflowers, and zinnias. Dahlia tubers are also like potatoes in how they look, grow, and taste. Some people even eat them. Just like potatoes, dahlias sprout eyes and can be separated to make more flowering plants, which is one of the reasons SIS students dig up the tubers each fall.

“Do dahlias see with their eyes?” asked one student.

“Dahlias cannot see with these eyes,” Ms. Monteleone confirmed. “The eyes are where a new beautiful dahlia plant can grow from next year.”

Students also learned that dahlias go dormant in the winter months. While some people choose to leave them in their garden all year long, the flowers at SIS are dug up each November to make room in the flower beds for other plants, as well as to allow them to sprout eyes so that they can be separated into additional plants before replanting in the spring. 

The students were allowed to choose whether they wanted to be a puller or a wrapper, then assembled their tools, like gloves, shovels, plastic bins, and newspapers. Once everything was organized, students got to work digging in the gardens to pull up the tubers.

Jackson M. said he wanted to be a puller, “Because this is fun.”

After they were out of the ground, Mrs. Monteleone trimmed the remaining stalks, and then other students wrapped them in newspaper. The dahlias were then boxed in large plastic bins so the custodians could store them in the school basement until spring, when they will be replanted. 

“I love wrapping stuff. I always ask my mom to help wrap gifts,” Elle V. said when asked why she chose to be a wrapper instead of a puller. “And I didn’t want to get dirty.”

Now that the dahlias have been removed from the flower beds, another group of students in the Outdoor Activity Club will use the same spot to plant tulip bulbs, which will bloom in early spring. Flowers grown by the students are used to make flower arrangements for the grade-level assistants, the office, the nurse’s office, the principals, and the librarians, among others.