Horticulture class enhances learning at convention center 

Tess Hastrick and Greta Rainbow, Staff Reporters
Originally published February 27, 2015

Science teacher India Carlson took students from her horticulture class to the Northwest Flower & Garden Show at the Washington State Convention Center on February 13. Students engaged with the professionally curated gardens and watched the classroom tools they created in use.

Students milled about, connecting the composition of display gardens and the work of Garden Show volunteers to the activities done in Horticulture.

“Maybe we can use some of these [garden elements] in our greenhouse,” junior Nolan Penrose said.

For many students, Carlson’s class is about taking an interest that may not be directly pedagogical, and relating that to their daily school life. “I just wanted to garden a lot and I knew this was the best class for that,” Penrose said.

Zsofia Pasztor, is on the board of directors for Farmer Frog, the organization that Horticulture students collaborated with. She advocates strongly for teaching young people about gardening. “You learn about the place of humans in the whole set of the world… We have to be humbly and respectfully aware of what our role in space is,” Pasztor said. “Everything is connected to everything else.”

For their final, Horticulture students created interactive activities for children and planting boxes for the Farmer Frog exhibition at the Garden Show. This was the first year the class didn’t create their own display for the Garden Show. Most gardeners that contribute to the Garden Show paid for their space while Carlson’s class was previously given it for free.

“[Farmer Frog] builds school gardens and helps kids learn how to farm and treat the world,” Matt Pasztor said. “Farming is sort of a dying art…. We are trying to help kids learn how to treat the world.”

Some students created a sensory garden for their interactive activity, putting different spices in film canisters. Others made paper flowers, fairy gardens, and guerrilla gardening “seed bombs” to grow plants in desolate places.

Carlson’s classes’ projects were voted Best Kits at Farmer Frog’s exhibition. “I didn’t know I actually had an impact on this place,” senior Eli Lemon said.

In Zsofia Pasztor’s opinion, gardeners have an impact on everything. “A farmer is a true scientist… They are emptimologists. They are the weather man. There is a lot that happens,” Zsofia Pasztor said. “They learn about traditions, cultures, intergenerational relationships and practices. Gardeners do all this, and more. Things that we don’t even think of yet.”

Students were given a short assignment while at the Garden Show, and allowed to walk around freely for the few hours they attended. Students could observe the world of professional gardening, and see award winning gardens that incorporated light, water and structures like gazebos and porches, as well as various ornamentations.

Carlson hopes to transition back into actual planting in the years to come, though she was grateful that they were still able to incorporate the Garden Show into their curriculum. “We were trying to find a way to still be involved in the Garden Show,” said Carlson.

Students are bringing home their knowledge and inspiration gleaned from horticulture class and the Garden Show, demonstrating the understanding of gardening education’s importance that Zsofia Pasztor emphasized. “Last weekend, I planted a squash in my garden… Isn’t that amazing?” Lemon said. “And I wouldn’t know how to do that without horticulture.”