Growing Together: Open Forum

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

Yes! We have had sunflowers and marigolds for the classroom and donating in the summer months. We are expanding flowers as the students at our midschool garden love them! This spring we're adding 80 feet of dahlias as they do well in our climate and it will add a welcome project of digging and dividing tubers to our fall schedule.

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

I'm at The Morton Arboretum in the Children's Garden. Periodically, our Horticulture staff has chosen a "Bouquet Garden" as one of our mini-display garden annual themes, but the public does not pick bouquets, it's more about the beauty, the idea of making a bouquet, and which flowers are great for a cut flower garden at home. When we did this theme, we periodically had our youth volunteers selectively harvest mini-bouquets to take home on certain shifts.

However, this last summer, we've gone with a model of having our youth volunteers collaborate to make 5-7 small or large bouquets in random glass or plastic glass vases we have on hand, from different flowers growing all over the garden, within reason as to not over harvest, only about every 2-3 weeks. Then we deliver bouquets to various Arboretum locations (mostly staff offices, as adult volunteers make more elaborate ones for certain public areas) and one community partner location that is very close to the Arboretum and easy to pop over to make a drop off.

Each time the youth volunteers get into a super creative zone both with cutting and then with arranging, and we learn a bit about the different flowers we harvest. We let them use their judgement in different areas about taking only here and there as not to make too much of an impact for other visitors, and we can always tell them not to take certain flowers if it is a concern. It's been great and very therapeutic!

I've also harvested flowers for a therapeutic horticulture flower arranging program I did offsite for a special mental health community partner, supplementing with a few purchased flowers to round things out. It was amazing to see everyone there very absorbed in making their own creations, and the room smelled wonderful!

Laura Kamedulski

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

Hi Anne, we grow quite a few flowers at our 3 school gardens. While I don't specifically grow for cutting (aka making fresh bouquets) I grow partly for beauty, partly for pollinators, and a few for eating. Borage is a favorite, kids love to pinch off the blooms and eat them. It does reseed prolifically, but I find it nice to not have to replant. We have a ton of calendula too, also reseeds all over. 

Strawflowers are something new for me this past year, they are beautiful and resilient. I will be growing them in all 3 gardens this spring. The way they dry and stay is great tool for some of our activities. 

Flowers in my experience are a hard one to grow an abundance of, because the kids I work with are very determined to pick them. We've had mixed experience with tulips, daffodils, columbine, flowering currant, bleeding heart, etc. I am still figuring out how to get them all onboard with looking and not picking. This is something that impacts my flower planting decisions, esp single stemmed things, since that doesn't go over well with those plants. I am going to try a "wildflower meadow" this spring at one location, just really heavily seed it and see how that goes. I figure maybe if there's a lot of flowers, then some will be left alone? But it is an experiment, we'll see if they can handle all those flowers, because I'd love to establish a "butterfly garden" but as of right now I think they would all be picked. 

Are there any specific flowers you are interested in growing? Or were you wondering about ones that are easier to grow, etc? 

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Sable Kellison
Rooted In Learning

Original Message:
Sent: 12-18-2024 09:37:50 PM
From: anne fassnacht
Subject: School Flower Gardens

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

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anne fassnacht
public school educator, master gardener, & garden designer
Indianapolis IN
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Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

Hi Anne - such a great question! I am the garden educator at 3 school gardens - 2 elementary and 1 middle school. We grow flowers for the beauty of them and for the pollinators, not specifically as a cutting garden. Although the responses to your post has given me some great ideas of planting more this year with the specific intention to cut and give away some of them and the joy it will bring the students to do that! My students absolutely love the flowers we grow and find so much joy in discovering them every time they walk into the garden. We grow sunflowers, milkweed, different kinds of zinnia, calendula, borage, of course - parsley, dill, many asters, daffodils, tulips, dahlias, and so on. Can't wait to expand our list!

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens

Is anyone growing cut flowers for giving as your school garden or in addition to vegetables?

I am very passionate about adding a cut flower garden to our existing school gardens. We are a Title 1 school and these kids could stand to be surrounded by beauty and witness the transformation of plants into beauty.

I wrote about why I think gardens and flower gardens can be impactful. I also just finished reading The Secret Garden, so I am extra hyped at the moment. 

 https://pinwheel-cottage.com/blog/we-need-more-flower-gardens