Brooklyn Botanic Garden Focuses on School Gardens

Two Free Events This Fall Highlight Sustainable Learning

Students at the High School for Public Service learn from the ground up in their schoolyard garden. (Courtesy of High School for Public Service Youth Farm).

Release Date: September 20, 2011

Brooklyn, NY—Reclaiming a piece of neglected yard and transforming it into an ecologically rich garden is one of the most beneficial activities that students and teachers can undertake together. Starting a school garden program and keeping it evergreen can be a challenge, but two upcoming events this fall at Brooklyn Botanic Garden offer inspiration and guidance.

Join Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) on Monday, September 26, at 6 p.m. for a talk and book signing by Arden Bucklin-Sporer and Rachel Pringle, authors of How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers. The authors offer practical tips on developing, planning, building, and maintaining a school garden, including detailed advice on how to secure support from the administration, raise money, build a kid-friendly garden, manage volunteers, and ensure a smooth transition at the beginning of each school year.

On Tuesday, November 15, from 6 to 8 p.m., BBG is offering a workshop, How to Grow a School Garden: Winter Planning for Spring Learning. Led by GreenBridge program manager Nina Browne and Brooklyn Urban Gardener (BUG) graduate Michelle Israel, this workshop will provide strategies to New York City parents, teachers, and administrators to ensure that a school garden program is a perennial success. The class is free, but registration is required (Click here for registration information).

About the Authors
Arden Bucklin-Sporer is the executive director of the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, an advocacy organization for school gardens and outdoor classrooms. She is the director of educational gardens for the San Francisco Unified School District and a founding partner of Bay Tree Design, a landscape architecture firm.

Rachel Kathleen Pringle is programs manager for the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, as well as the urban school garden liaison for Occidental Arts and Ecology Center’s school garden teacher training program in Sonoma County. She has also served as a garden educator and coordinator of a public school garden in San Francisco.

About Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Founded in 1910, Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is an independent nonprofit institution committed to education, research, and the display of horticulture. Situated on 52 acres in the heart of Brooklyn, the Garden is home to over 12,000 kinds of plants and hosts more than 725,000 visitors annually. Learn more at bbg.org.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The Garden is closed on Mondays except public holidays. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens (65 and older) and students with ID. Children under 12, all school groups, and Garden members are admitted free at all times. For directions, please visit bbg.org/visit/directions.

Learn what’s happening at Brooklyn Botanic Garden at bbg.org/visit/calendar, read the Garden’s blog at bbg.org/news, and see photos of current highlights at bbg.org/bloom.