Awards take root

Pines initiative honors great yards

Maintaining his lawn is a labor of love for Joseph Zappia.

The Pembroke Pines retiree, who lives in Chapel Trail, uses his oasis to shade his home, feed his family and shelter wildlife.

“As you landscape the house, you appreciate the fruits of your work,” Zappia said. “A true testament of a gardener is not what’s in the front yard but what’s in the backyard.”

Zappia’s yard was one of three in the city to recently be awarded the Natalie Belmonte Great Yards Award. Woodbridge resident Eddie Linares and the Pembroke Pines Charter School East Campus also won.

“The winning properties were chosen based on their integration of butterfly gardening, design and function, maintenance, Florida-friendly value and the use of hardscapes,” said Sue-ling Rosario, city landscape planner.

With a large lot that backs up to a lake, Zappia tends to 30 trees that produce such items as mangoes, avocados, dragon fruits and macadamia nuts.

Zappia and wife Gayle shared their love of gardening with their grandchildren.

“We wanted to teach them how to care for wildlife, butterflies, birds, bees and plants, how to eat healthy, homegrown fruits rather than just chicken nuggets and French fries, how to grow plants from seeds and how to avoid the use of pesticides and poisons in maintaining a landscape and a safe haven for wildlife,” he said.

Zappia’s yard also is a certified wildlife and bird habitat.

Lisa Dizengoff, science facilitator at Pines Charter East Campus, was thrilled her students’ hard work was acknowledged by the city.

Art in Bloom is a collaboration between the school and its artistin-residence, Lucia Romano. The garden features a vegetable garden tended by fifth-graders, a salsa garden cultivated by fourth-graders

and a butterfly garden enjoyed by the whole school.

The fifth-graders’ legacy gift was two fruit trees for the garden.

“It’s great to see how the school has embraced it,” Dizengoff said. “It shows them that science is every- where and inspired the kids to garden at home.”

The garden was awarded the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology’s Make Every Day Earth Day Challenge and Habitat Heroes awards, which provided a $400 grant the school used for bird houses and supplies.

The contest was created in memory of Natalie Belmonte, a Pines woman killed in 2011 who had a strong love of nature, particularly butterflies.