After a year of no activity because of the pandemic, the Wheatland Community Garden needed some work.
Armed with 10,000 seeds and 10 varieties of flowers, student Ella Proud, 14, who will be a freshman at McCaskey High School in fall, and about 30 of her fellow Junior National Honor Society classmates at Wheatland Middle School set out to transform an overgrown area of weeds into a beautiful field of sunflowers.
In February, special education teacher and honor society adviser Kevin Ghaffari asked the students what they wanted to do with the garden this year. Because it was filled with weeds, Ella, then an eighth-grader at Wheatland, came up with the idea for sunflowers — they are hearty and can survive alongside anything.
The plan is to eventually develop the space for outdoor learning, so the students would have somewhere to learn about science and growing things, Ghaffari said.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Visitors take pictures of the flowers in the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Penny Proud, 9, feels a flower in the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Runy Proud, 12, walks her puppy Billy, in the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Ella Proud, 13, cuts some flowers in the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Jeana Hershey, right, and her daughter Annika Hershey, cut some flowers in the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Terry Finger, takes pictures in the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Jonathan Carr, left, takes a picture of his mom Jill Carr, in the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Student Sophia Raeford, looks at a flower in the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
ELA teacher Kevin Ghaffari, left, says hello to a group cutting flowers in the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Jeana Hershey, hands off a flower after cutting, at the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Teacher Chad Burkholder, wraps up a bunch of flowers at the sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Wheatland Sunflower Field
Sunflower field at Wheatland Middle School in Lancaster Thursday July 23, 2021.
Several months later, the school now has a field of more than 1,000 blooming sunflowers reaching for the sky.
Sunflowers aren’t around for long. Teachers, advisers and students will be selling the flowers 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays through Sundays at the garden for the next two weeks or until the flowers are gone.
Flowers cost $2 for one or $10 for six. All proceeds go back into the garden.