‘Thyme’ to grow: Central Greene students open FFA greenhouse to sell flowers, garden plants
Colleen Nelson/For the Observer-Reporter
Shopping for flowers after the grand opening of the FFA greenhouse April 22 at Central Greene High School are (from left) state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, FFA state reporter Trevor Maxwell, advisor Jamie Finch, club president Alex Schultz and Lauren Strelick.
Colleen Nelson/For the Observer-Reporter
Central Greene High School students tend to plants grown at their newly refurbished greenhouse.
After two years of pandemic restrictions, the FFA greenhouse at Central Greene High School is freshly refurbished, bursting with blooms and open for business.
From now until the end of May, garden plants, hanging baskets and patio pots will be for sale and the public is invited to stop and shop.
Thanks to two Pennsylvania FFA Foundation grants, the greenhouse has new plant tables designed and built by students, fresh floor covering, and a computerized labeler that can produce labels for the plants, a task that used to take hours to do by hand.
Opening Day was April 22, Earth Day, with an official ribbon cutting by the Greene County Chamber of Commerce and refreshments served up by Dan Wagner’s Greene County Career and Technology Center culinary class to students, advisors, school officials and well-wishers from local and state offices, and the FFA community of staff and volunteers.
Guests came not just to applaud the teamwork of the horticultural students and their advisor Jamie Finch, but to celebrate the FFA – formerly known as the Future Farmers of America, a local, state and national student organization that teaches leadership and scientific skills through hands on learning to sustain the world through agriculture.
Finch, assisted this year by student teacher Lynnsey Kauffman, offers elective FFA classes for grades 9 through 12 in horticulture, forestry, introductory and advanced agriculture, agricultural business and parliamentary procedure. The latter class helps future farmers, teachers, scientists and entrepreneurs develop the civic and personal presentation skills needed to be the leaders of tomorrow.
When the pandemic shut down schools in Pennsylvania on March 13, 2020, Finch was left with a greenhouse full of freshly sprouted plants to keep alive. She told the crowd on opening day that she credits her mother and FFA student Alex Schultz, this year’s club president, for helping with maintenance and daily watering as they waited to see if school would open in a few weeks. When it didn’t, Giant Eagle came to the rescue, bought all the plants and sold them for the club.
This kind of community support has been the lifeblood of the horticultural project, Finch said. When she first became the program advisor nine years ago, “There was $30 in the greenhouse account and we needed everything. I’d worked for Wagner’s Greenhouse in Hickory so I approached the owner and I was able to order everything through them and pay in May.”
With restrictions still lingering in 2021, the greenhouse stayed closed but each student got a six-foot space and a hanging basket to grow for personal use. Rural King in Washington donated the seeds.
The club also raises funds each year with seasonal orders for poinsettias, chrysanthemums and Easter flowers that can be ordered for pickup.
Staggered planting begins in February when classes go from being book heavy to daily hands-on learning in the greenhouse. Seedlings get started, then separated into individual cells and flats. Flower plugs from Wagner’s Greenhouse are planted for artistic effect in hanging baskets and the overhead watering system Finch had installed her second year is there to be turned on and off as young horticulturalists learn to gauge the needs of their cultivars as the spring sun warms the greenhouse and watering becomes more critical.
Students planted cucumbers, squash and other vines after spring break and will plant again in weekly intervals to keep plants the proper size for transplant after the last frost. Geraniums and other flowers have been pinched back so they will be ready to flourish when taken home.
Greenhouse hours are Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekdays during Horticulture class time from 1:45 to 3 p.m. Any changes to hours, plant selections, prices, specials and flash sales are listed on Facebook at Waynesburg FFA.