On August 27, 2010, we had the pleasure of having Kris Ethington here to present a case study of the gardens at Concordia Elementary in San Clemente. The garden features both native and edible plants as a part of their “Learning Through Nature” Program. Kris is the Junior Gardener Program Chair of the San Clemente Garden Club, the first funding source for the program. She shared her truly inspiring story about how to begin and execute a school garden project, how she recruited partnerships and secured funding from parents, teachers, administrators and grants, and how the program has continued to grow. Through the time and efforts of Kris and many volunteers, the gardens at Concordia have garnered much attention by winning both State and National Awards!
Kris presented an excellent power point presentation that she has graciously allowed us to post for those of you who requested a copy or who may not have been able to attend the workshop. She also created a useful handout about school garden programs including an extremely helpful reference sheet which focuses on funding resources for school garden projects.
Native and Edible Gardens for Schools Slides (2.01 MB)
Native and Edible School Gardens 2010 (177.7 kB)
At Tree of Life Nursery, we delight in providing quality native plants at a discount to school garden projects, as a service to the community. If you are seeking plants, please visit us during retail hours and we will be happy to extend a 20% discount to chairpersons purchasing plants for your school garden. Please bring a letter describing your project and its location so that we may serve you and help you with your project!