Metro Roundup: Girl Scout installs ozone garden

Homewood High School senior Izzy Dettling has brought the first “ozone garden” in Alabama to Sims Garden.

The purpose of the garden is to include plants that react to tropospheric ozone, which is an invisible but harmful pollutant. The plants are bioindicators and show visible reactions to high levels of the ozone. These reactions include rusty spots on the leaves or unnatural changes of color.

Instead of just installing indicators, though, Dettling also installed absorbers. This will allow a visitor to the garden to compare the difference between the two.

Dettling completed the project to earn her Girl Scout Gold Award and contributed approximately 80 volunteer hours to the project. With the COVID-19 pandemic limiting social interactions, Dettling said it was difficult to find volunteer groups to help with the project, but Boy Scout Troop No. 79 from Homewood and the Rotaract Club of Birmingham answered the call.

“It was late spring and early summer, so it was very hot,” she said. “And when we had that initial shutdown in the spring, it was difficult to get back on track and figure out the time span for the project.”

Despite these challenges, she said she enjoyed learning about the different types of bioindicator plants and being able to work in a garden.

“I kill plants at my house — I’m not very good at it,” she said, laughing. “So I enjoyed learning how to work in this garden. And I enjoyed learning about the environment and how it works. The project, in general, was a great way to not only do something that was important, but learn about things I’m interested in.”

Dettling has taken an environmental science class at Homewood High and said she plans to enroll in more environmental science classes during college.

The ozone garden is located in one part of Sims Garden, which is at 908 Highland Road in Edgewood. Amy Milam, who manages the Sims Garden property, said an interpretive sign will soon be constructed at the ozone garden.