500 students honor Toots Leone with Mother’s Day succulent project

More than 500 students from Fisher’s Peak Elementary School and Hoehne Schools turned a Mother’s Day succulent project at SRG’s Landscaping and Supply into a living tribute to Sophie “Toots” Leone. The turnout mattered as much as the craft itself: a local business became a hands-on space for children from two Trinidad-area schools, tying remembrance to student learning and community memory.

Employees Chrissy Whalen and Jerrica Ketcherside hosted the project to honor Leone, who died on November 23, 2024, at age 72. Leone was remembered for loving fairy gardens made with plants and crafts, and for teaching classes for children and adults at SRG, where she spent years making gardening feel creative, accessible and fun.

For the students, the project was more than a seasonal decoration. It gave them a chance to work with succulents, create something they could take with them and take part in a tribute grounded in Trinidad’s own family business history. With just over 500 children involved, the event reached a broad slice of the district and turned a private shop into a shared classroom.

Leone’s ties to SRG ran deep. She was the founder and owner of SRG’s Landscaping, short for Sophie Roseann Guadagnoli’s Landscaping. In 1993, Sonny and Toots Leone took over Leone Sand and Gravel and Leone Ready Mix. In 2001, Leone opened SRG as a place for yard art, pots, flowers, supplies, bushes and trees.

SRG says the business has been family owned and operated since 1943 and has been going strong for more than 25 years, providing fertilizers, soils, mulches, hardscapes and decor to Trinidad and surrounding areas from 2400 E Main St. The Mother’s Day project fit that long pattern of family-centered, hands-on activities, following an earlier rock-painting event for children and grandchildren. In a town where names, businesses and family histories often overlap, the succulent project gave students a way to honor Leone while carrying a piece of her love of plants and teaching into their own schools and homes.