Climate-friendly Youth Gardening: Webinar & Activity Guide

March 7, 2024
4pm PT / 7pm ET

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Through conscious thinking about the ways in which we garden, every gardener, no matter their age, can make small changes that help mitigate climate change. From prioritizing resilient perennials and native plants to creating your own compost and reducing water usage, there are so many ways to get kids actively involved in gardening practices that capture carbon and support our ecosystems.

Join Horticulturist Abrianna Culligan and Youth Education Coordinator Jenna Hough of New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill and Carolyn Miller of Wild Ones as we explore the myriad of ways to introduce climate-friendly gardening practices to kids.

Presenters

Abrianna Culligan (She/Her) is a Horticulturist at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill located in Boylston, MA. She has been with the organization since 2022 and is responsible for the design and maintenance of two of the Garden's newest spaces, the Ramble, a garden for children and families that includes interactive play features and hundreds of perennials, shrubs, trees, and a pond of seasonal aquatic plants, and the Climate Garden, a hands-on youth-oriented garden focused on sustainable agriculture. Bri earned her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from Hampshire College with concentrations in forest ecology and soil science. Her professional interests include ecological horticulture and climate change mitigation, in which she plays an active role by reducing her carbon footprint and teaching others how to do so as well.

Jenna Hough (She/Her) is the Youth Education Coordinator at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill in Boylston, MA. She runs and develops the Garden’s educational programs in the Ramble and Climate Garden. These programs include drop-in activities, family and homeschool classes, birthday parties, summer camps, and more. Jenna worked as a seasonal landscaper at the South Carolina Botanical Garden and was a camp counselor at a marine science summer camp near Charleston, SC. Jenna is a recent graduate of Clemson University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Natural Resources. She has been with the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill for almost a year and is excited to be growing their climate change program offerings for family and student audiences.

Carolyn Miller (She/Her) is a member of the Board of Directors for Wild Ones. She received her bachelor’s degree in botany and plant pathology from Michigan State University and is currently working on her master’s degree in biology at Miami University (Ohio), where her focus is developing innovative ways to inspire urban residents to landscape with native plants to help support native pollinators. She also currently serves as the plant recorder for Michigan State University, spending much of her time mapping and recording data for all the trees and shrubs across more than 5,000 acres of campus. Prior to this position, she was curator of plant collections at the Naples Botanical Garden (Naples, Florida), where she was involved in procuring plant material for a major garden expansion. After returning to her hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, she became involved with the Wild Ones River City – Grand Rapids Chapter. During this time, her quest to learn more about and promote native plants took flight. Upon relocating to Lansing, Michigan, she became the program coordinator for the Wild Ones Red Cedar Chapter and currently coordinates the chapter’s native plant sales. In addition, she is president of the Wildflower Association of Michigan and the recording secretary for the Michigan Botanical Society. When she’s not botanizing or transforming unproductive lawns into productive pollinator habitats, she can be found spearheading efforts to remove invasive plants from local habitats.

March 12, 2024
4pm PT / 7pm ET

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When it comes to the layout, hardscapes, and features of a youth garden, making climate-friendly design choices is easier than you think and can offer engaging educational experiences for kids. From creating rain gardens to xeriscaping, planting schoolyard forests and choosing sustainable materials there are many ways to incorporate climate-friendly garden design into a new youth garden or an existing one.

Join Paige Payne of Online Landscape Designs, Lauren Carvalho of High Country Gardens, and Ayesha Ercelawn of Green Schoolyards America to explore ways to make your growing space more climate-friendly.

Presenters

Paige Payne (She/Her) is the founder and lead landscape designer at Online Landscape Designs, where she seeks to enhance people's lives by connecting them to the natural world through outdoor spaces. With 24 years of experience in the landscape industry and a profound love for nature, Paige applies her knowledge to craft Earth-centered landscape and permaculture designs. These designs emphasize water-wise, native, pollinator-friendly, and edible gardens, showcasing how to seamlessly integrate these elements into a unified design. Paige is a Permaculture Designer and serves as a mentor with the Permaculture Women’s Guild. Additionally, she offers eco-friendly garden and landscape education, both online and in person, spanning across Colorado and the United States. Whether it is through backyard gathering spaces, yoga gardens, retreat centers, food forests, natural kids' play areas, or simple herb containers, Paige believes that any step toward Earth-friendly landscaping and nature connection is a step in the right direction. She believes that even small changes can have a huge positive impact on the Earth, people's lives, and all of the species on the planet.

Lauren Carvalho (She/Her) is the Horticultural Manager for High Country Gardens. Growing up the daughter of a landscape designer, she was often a-tag-a-long to job sites and wholesale nurseries, while chores at home included A LOT of weeding. Although it began as childhood drudgery, working with plants has become the focus of Lauren’s adulthood and career. Beginning as an organic produce farmer in the Southwest, she developed a fascination with reducing the use of pesticides through using beneficial insects. This led to a life-altering opportunity learning to propagate native and pollinator-friendly, habitat-providing plants under the tutelage of Horticulturalist David Salman. Currently, Lauren is working with High Country Gardens and some of the brightest thought leaders in Western Horticulture, to learn about and tell the story of these incredibly important ecologically restorative and beautiful plants.

Ayesha Ercelawn, MES (She/Her) is the Education Specialist at Green Schoolyards America. She has taught and developed environmental education curriculum in school gardens for more than twenty years, working in both private and public schools. She has also trained teachers through the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and San Francisco Ecoliteracy Conferences. Ayesha obtained her B.A. from Smith College and pursued a master’s degree in Ecosystem Science and Management from the Yale School of the Environment—an ecosystem perspective continues to deeply inform her thinking. Outside her work with Green Schoolyards America, Ayesha volunteers with a local habitat restoration project. As a long time naturalist, she is usually to be found pursuing her own sense of wonder—whether rambling on local trails or investigating life in her garden.