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by Melinda Tuhus | Sep 28, 2007 9:10 am

(7) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Schools

red%20carpet.JPG The Pardee Rose Garden is on the Hamden side of East Rock Park. So why are only New Haven students from the Sound School (as opposed to Sound School students from any other towns, including Hamden) allowed to participate in its hands-on programs? That question arose at the dedication Thursday morning of the Pardee Greenhouse, as some of those students bordered the red carpet.

mayor%20on%20red%20carpet.JPG Mayor John DeStefano walked down the red carpet laid down at the entrance to the garden and joked to the students on either side, “It feels like my prom.”

As emcee of the festivities, the first thing he said was, “Well, of course we’re in Hamden. And it’s a special part of Hamden that New Haven cares a great deal about. For more than a century this has been a wonderful corner of our park system.”

The $3.5 million renovation project was unique for the Citywide School Construction Program. More than three-quarters of the funding came from the state, while $800,000 came from city coffers.

ribbon%20cutting.JPG Charles “Chaz” Mavrelion (pictured on the far right at the ribbon cutting) works with the 45 New Haven students who have chosen to participate in the agriculture program. They work in the garden during the summer and have classes in the late afternoon three days a week. “Being on Long Island Sound, there was not much room for agriculture or horticulture,” he says, so the school developed a partnership with the Rose Garden about eight years ago. The kids also grow the flowers that beautify streetscapes all over the city, and they’re currently cultivating hundreds of poinsettia plants whose sale at the holidays will support Sound School programs. Click here to download an order form.

toni%20walker.JPG State Rep. Toni Walker (pictured) spoke, saying she was happy to be part of an event that wasn’t about juvenile criminal justice, her signature issue. And she knows her flowers, naming several varieties that she spied as she walked in the garden, which isn’t just about roses, as its name implies.

And although June is really the peak month for roses, this lovely specimen was on display in late September.

Walker said her own garden is her “peace.” And she urged the students to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity the Sound’s agriculture program provides, to be “out in the sun, digging in the dirt.” Click here for her comments.

City and school officials decided to renovate the Pardee Greenhouse so the agricultural program at the Sound School could expand its curriculum to allow for the full flowering of the study of agricultural sciences. Students will produce 42,000 plants for the city in the spring planting alone, according to the handout at the dedication.

steve%20pym.JPG Sound School Principal Steve Pynn (pictured) said, “I think it’s absolutely safe to say there isn’t a[nother] high school in America that has a facility like this.” He said he appreciated working in a city and school district where officials were open to “outrageous ideas” like creating a garden and greenhouse space for use by urban school students, and that the realization of such ideas is what is needed for 21st century education.

So, why is the program open only to New Haven students at the Sound School? Pynn explained that every board of education in the state is required to designate a regional vo-ag center where its students can choose to go. Many of the students who attend Sound live in towns that would be served by the vo-ag program in Wallingford. But he said New Haven created its own program in order to offer both aquaculture and agriculture. However, space limitations – and the availability of vo-ag programs in other towns – means that the school limits participation to students from New Haven – even though the Pardee Rose Garden and Greenhouse are in Hamden.

Not all the 45 students in the program plan to pursue agriculture or horticulture as a career. But some do.

One girl said she’d like to be a florist. Junior Carrie Ewing (pictured above making floral centerpieces) said she’d like to be a plant scientist. She says as far as she knows she’s never been to the Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station a couple of miles away on Huntington Street. But that seems like a logical place for a field trip for these students who like “digging in the dirt.”

Comments

posted by: cedarhillresident on September 28, 2007 9:56am

Ugg I missed it! I even had it on my calendar! CONGRATE’S!!!!!!
It’s a newer greener world and programs like this are the start of shaping the minds of the next generation. Both my kids were part of the Ag program and it helped them to become better people and find there nitch in the world.

posted by: Walt on September 28, 2007 10:54am

Good idea. I live near the Rose Garden

Any of those from the Garden have hints re rust or black spot on roses??

I have tried everything that Ortho and others tout to eliminate this scourge,,but they are worthless.

My theory is that the Ortho junk just feeds
the infections, and then you are supposed to buy some other Ortho junk to destroy it.

Skeptic?

Yes.

Any effective remedy would be enthusiastically accepted ,

posted by: Sabrina on September 28, 2007 11:25am

Cedarhill, you have a standing invite anytime at all for a tour!

And Walt? While I am an awful gardener, I asked and according to our amazing horticulturist at the Pardee Rose Garden (Matt), you may want to try a combo of Daconil ( anti-fungus for the rust spots) and mancozeb for the black spots. You can purchase these ingredients at a nursery, like Bell or Van Wilgins (sp?) in 1/2 pint bottles, combine in a sprayer and use as directed…

posted by: Walt on September 28, 2007 1:45pm

Sabrina

Thanks. Will try in the Spring.

Have made a note and will probably stop at the Garden and ask Matt re specifics of the mixture.

(Mancozeb has been used, but not the other one I think)

Thanks again

posted by: Nan Bartow on September 28, 2007 2:05pm

This occasion made me proud of New Haven’s youth, of the Sound School, and of the Pardee Rose Gardens. The newly renovated greenhouses and the adjoining building with its handsome entrance, classroom, and office space paneled in cedar are spectacular.

I urge New Haveners to go and visit. Thanks to all who made these changes possible.

posted by: cedarhillresident on September 28, 2007 3:22pm

Sabrina
Thanks..
I have done the garden walk threw I love it.
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/06/pardees_bloomin.php
But I would love to see the finish building!

posted by: Walt on September 29, 2007 12:12pm

When is it open to the public?

If that info is posted here or on the City’s site, I can’t find it.

My wofe would like it. She is the rose fiend. My role is somewhat limited to disease and insect control but I’ll go too.

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