COD horticulture program cultivates outdoor lab
When the Horticulture program moved into the Technical Education Center in 2009, it also dug into its new outdoor landscape lab that cultivates student skills in design, construction, maintenance and plant cultivation.
The transformation from a grassy area to a beautiful garden will take years, as classes continue to add their touches to the 9,000 square feet of space located north of the COD Greenhouse and just west of the TEC. This area will become naturally “green” with the addition of several sustainable elements.
“We knew we wanted an outdoor lab area when the TEC was being designed,” said Judy Burgholzer, Horticulture program coordinator. “When the center opened in 2009, we started with a blank slate outdoors. But the lab is definitely taking shape now.”
Students in the fall 2009 Landscape Design I class worked on concept plans, while the Landscape Design II students in spring 2010 developed those concepts, working in groups and coming up with three specific plans. Elements from each were then combined into one design.
The actual work began when students from the Landscape Maintenance and Construction class installed a patio and seats in summer 2010, and the Introduction to Green Roofs class added a rooftop garden concept in fall 2010. Work continued this past summer with the Landscape class constructing a walkway and raised beds. The Perennial Plant Communities class added a perennial garden, and more planting beds will showcase plants featured by Perennials in Focus, a Chicago organization that has partnered with COD to evaluate and rate new and underused perennials.
This fall, the Water Conservation-Landscape class installed a rain garden, thanks to a $470 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
“This garden demonstrates how sustainable native plants can be incorporated into a landscape,” Burgholzer said. “The area has been pitched so rainwater runs to a drain. However, the native plants slow and absorb the water, which minimizes the amount of rain going into the drain. As a result, you have a beautiful yet functional natural area. The Water Conservation class will continue to maintain this area in the future for maximum impact.”
Future components of the plan include signage that explains each part of the landscape lab. It will take years for all of the elements to be implemented, and it may never be finished, as classes will continue to refine what's there.
“It's a living learning lab,” she said. “We have an excellent plan, but that doesn't mean there won't be some changes. We'll always have something to work on.”
For more information about the Horticulture program, email burghoj@cod.edu or visit www.cod.edu/horticulture.