Released: April 14, 2008

Volunteer Honored for Work on Children’s Garden

WICHITA, Kan. – A local horticulturist has earned a Garden Star Award from Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, for leadership in developing a children’s garden for area youth, said Mia Jenkins, director of marketing and communications for the premier public garden.

In presenting the award to Evelyn Neier March 25, Jenkins cited Neier’s extensive research on children’s gardens and leadership for the planning committee.

“Evelyn volunteered to compile a comprehensive report that served as the basis for discussion for the garden and meetings with architects and horticulturists who are now putting together a conceptual plan,” Jenkins said.

Children’s gardens can spur interests in plants, insects, the environment, natural resources, and conservation that often serve as the foundation for lifelong interests, she said.

Evelyn can speak from experience. Her mother, Marjorie Bergkamp, had a keen interest in gardening and nurtured that interest in her daughter, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in horticulture at Kansas State University.

Neier currently serves as Kansas Junior Master Gardener Program coordinator and a K-State Research and Extension 4-H youth development specialist.

“Evelyn is an excellent role model for novice gardeners and students of horticulture,” Jenkins said.

Children’s gardens also attract a child’s family and friends, and attendance at the public gardens typically doubles or triples, said Jenkins, who noted that once the conceptual drawing is complete, Botanica will begin fundraising for the garden.

For more information about the children’s garden or Botanica, contact Jenkins at 1-316-264-0448 or look on the Web at www.botanica.org. For more information about Kansas’ Junior Master Gardener program contact Neier at 1-316-722-0932 or eneier@ksu.edu. Information about the program also is available on the Kansas 4-H Web site: www.kansas4h.org.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Nancy Peterson
nancyp@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News