Hi Anne,
I love this topic and thank you for sharing to start the conversation! I loved the blog you posted as well. :) I cannot speak to school gardens, but I help manage a Children's vegetable garden at our public botanical garden and we started running summer day camps for the past 2 years. We've intentionally planted more flowers as companion plants to our veggies and for color and beauty for kids to pick whenever they want. We use them for art projects, bracelets, flower crowns, cut bouquets for the classroom or to bring home to family, and campers have even smashed the petals to make their own paint! We also harvest the vegetables to donate to a local food pantry and this year we made about 20 small bouquets for the pantry and they loved it! We've planted zinnias, sunflowers, daisies, lilies, cosmos, morning glory, nasturtiums, straw flower (keep their color and texture when dried), hydrangeas, calendula, different types of celosia (bright colors and feathery texture), and marigold.
Through a series of unfortunate events, the campers ended up mourning the death of a small toad they named Tilly. As a group, they decided to hold a small ceremony for Tilly. We had a seemingly endless supply of marigold flowers and petals, so they took it upon themselves to harvest the marigolds and other flowers to create an altar and a marigold trail through the garden to honor Tilly. They each walked up the marigold trail and stopped at the altar to say a few sweet words to Tilly before saying goodbye. This moment was impactful not only because this loss brought them all together, but incorporated this very important flower in their ceremony. It would not have been the same without this meaningful flower!
Flower power is real and I appreciate you sharing this to help remind us that children deserve beauty in their lives.
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Ariel Christian
School & Out-of-School Program Specialist
Olbrich Botanical Gardens
Madison, WI
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