Horticulture/Landscape Technology students from Minuteman High School will exhibit their skills at Boston Flower Show

By Judy Bass

Students in the Horticulture/Landscape Technology program at Minuteman High School will be displaying two natural playscapes they created and installed at local venues at the upcoming Boston Flower & Garden Show, whose theme this year is “Nurtured by Nature.”

The event will take place at the Seaport World Trade Center, 200 Seaport Boulevard in Boston, from Wednesday, March 16 to Sunday, March 20, 2016.

Minuteman Horticulture/Landscape Technology Instructor Sarah Ard, MCH, said, “Students in the program worked on two nature playscapes, one at Meriam Road in Concord, where we installed all of the deciduous native perennials, and at the Burbank Elementary School in Belmont, where we installed many native plants, a fairy garden, raised beds for vegetables and herbs, natural stepping stones, and so forth. When we heard what the theme [of the Boston Flower Show] was, we thought that our past large projects played into it perfectly.”

The Minuteman Horticulture students attend the show each annually. Their involvement as exhibitors this year came about because in 2015, Minuteman’s Horticulture students who are also members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) volunteered at the show’s Plant Something booth to help visitors plant a mystery seed to take home, Ms. Ard explained. “Students wore their FFA informs and helped direct people into the booth, filled pots, and showed them how to properly plant a seed.”

The Plant Something booth is hosted by the Massachusetts Flower Growers Association and the Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association. “Both groups know that I teach vocational high school horticulture,” said Ms. Ard, “and have been helping to get us more involved in their groups. I regularly contact the show director and she got to see us in action at the Plant Something booth and asked us if we were interested in exhibiting,”

According to http://www.ccfpd.org/homerlakeplayscape/ and “How to Build a Natural Playscape” on dwell.com, “Natural playscapes are some of the most popular playgrounds being designed and reflect wider cultural concerns about sustainability and interaction with nature.” These playscapes prominently feature elements like “streams, plants, boulders, logs, earth mounds and more” rather than synthetic materials and tend to encourage creative play, reverence for the environment, and establish a mood of relaxed yet educational recreation.

“The project will enhance many skills learned in the Horticulture program,” added Ms. Ard. “We will be doing a complete installation and take down twice, once in the greenhouse, then again at the show. Many areas of horticulture are schedule-based and have deadlines; this will be the ultimate test for a deadline.”

At Minuteman, through a robust integrated curriculum, students gain both academic and career and technical skills for a revolutionary competitive advantage. Because Minuteman values lifelong learning that fosters personal and professional development, all students are challenged to aspire to their full potential, accelerate their learning, and achieve success in the 21st-century global community.