The Bluebonnet Montessori School of Lakeway is proof that it takes a village to raise a garden.

On June 24, a team of parents, teachers and volunteers from area businesses put the final touches on a new garden for the 9-year-old school at 15099 Debba Drive. The success of the drought-tolerant landscape project, however, and initiative was the result of a communitywide collaboration.

Maria Carter, whose children attend the school and were involved in the project, said she estimates that the total value of the donated design, materials and labor is at least $3,500.

At the end of 2011, a group of parents from Bluebonnet approached Susanna Schwartz, a landscape designer with Blue Moon Gardens, with their idea for an organic garden in the front of the school. Schwartz also teaches a first-year planting design course at Austin Community College and passed the landscape assignment on to her students.

Schwartz said she gave them certain parameters for their design, including the use of only drought-tolerant and deer-resistant plants, native materials and adapting the design for children younger than 10 years old.

The designs were created at no cost to the school under the supervision of Schwartz, a master gardener whose clients include Camp Balcones Springs and the Retreat at Balcones Springs.

School officials and parents reviewed the designs with Schwartz and selected two renderings for the garden, combining the pathways from one drawing with the simple greenery design from another, Schwartz said.

Parents donated funds to purchase the materials, and a local landscape company, H2 Lawnworks, contributed the labor to till the area and install the garden per the design.

Juan Hernandez, owner of H2 and a former Bluebonnet student, said he will continue the garden's annual maintenance.

"We used low-maintenance, Texas-native plants," Carter said. "We wanted a more organic feel and didn't want a highly manicured look."

Carter said the drought-tolerant garden was timely since many of the school's West Austin families, including Steiner Ranch and Lakeway residents, received notice that on June 10, Stage 3 watering conditions had taken effect, restricting watering to only one day per week from midnight to 10 a.m.

The new garden adds to the overall beautification of the school with its extensive plantings, Bluebonnet Montessori School Director Silvia Smith said.

"The gardens and nature discovery are an extension of the science curriculum," Smith said. "The children take care of the gardens every day, and the school was built with that in mind."

School spirit and philosophy represented in plantings

Classrooms, such as the Mountain Laurel room, Magnolia room and Mimosa room, at the Bluebonnet Montessori School of Lakeway are named after Texas native plants. Students collect seeds from the mountain laurels at the school and replant them, Bluebonnet Montessori School Director Silvia Smith said.

"The mountain laurel represents the spirit of the school," Smith said. "They are evergreen, and green is the color of hope and prosperity. They are very strong and survive equally [in] droughts and freezes. They are very fragrant and beautiful when they blossom."