Farm Hopes to Help Grow Gardeners

Wednesday, Armstrong Elementary School students will plant Snapdragons, blue salvia and white alyssum on campus.

Toward growing a new generation of gardeners.

"Plant Something Day" in Massachusetts is Wednesday. The Massachusetts Flower Growers Association has organized it in conjunction with the Massachusetts Landscape and Nursery Association.

Wilkinson's Hi Hill Farm on Route 30 is the Westborough coordinator, and has provided plants to the Armstrong School and the three Miss Tanya's Nursery Schools, Suzanne Wilkinson said Monday. And Wishing Wells Perennials has donated perennials to Miss Tanya's Longmeadow Street school to plant there Wednesday.

The campaign's goal is to hopefully plant something in every community," Wilkinson said.

"A lot of people don't plant anymore. They're too busy. They don't teach their kids how to plant," said Wilkinson, whose farm is a Mass Flower Growers member.

"Now that children spend so much time on the computer and so much time inside they haven't learned how to do things outside. When we were little, our grandparents had vegetable gardens, so we would help them plant.

"I think too a lot of parents are working a lot of hours and they're not having the time to spend."

The farm is providing Miss Tanya's three nursery schools with "enough small plants so that each of the children can plant into a pea pot that they can plant into the ground" at home, Wilkinson said.

The farm also is offering the Westborough Garden Club a discount, she said. The club’s annual plant sale is from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Tufts Machine parking lot, 49 East Main St.

The farm also is encouraging downtown Westborough businesses to plant something at their stores.

"You'll notice that there are some that have pansy pots. We've done those. And some have just bought for their window boxes,” Wilkinson said.