A Living Classroom at the University of New Hampshire
Students in a horticultural technology class at the University of New Hampshire’s Thompson School for Applied Science completed a final project for last week’s Earth Day celebration that brings learning outside of the conventional classroom.
Associate professor Dana Sansom’s grounds management course installed sustainable landscaping around the university’s Putnam Hall, designed to provide low-maintenance beauty throughout the year. Additionally, the landscaped area will be used as a living classroom for the school’s future horticulture students.
Thompson School student Jim Lynn, who designed the landscape with students Henry Hess and Katie Leipold worked with nine other students over the course of the past year to develop and implement the project. The site, which had been largely neglected for a decade, was overgrown and unkempt.
The sustainable landscaping project began by removing aggressive and overgrown pachysandra and yews, and testing and preparing the soil with compost made from food waste from the UNH dining halls.
The class applied the principles of sustainable landscaping and focused on “right plant, right place,” choosing plants that would thrive in the New Hampshire climate. Although the garden is considered sustainable, not all of its plants are native.
“There’s some debate in sustainability as to whether plants have to be native to be sustainable,” said Lynn – but none are invasive.
“They all live in harmony with native plants,” Hess explained. Each plant was chosen for its ability to attract wildlife by providing food or habitat, the idea being that wildlife help to sustain the landscape by providing pollination and returning organic matter to the soil.
Creating a sustainable landscape area cuts down on maintenance costs, water usage and irrigation, and upkeep time, but the students aren’t worried about putting themselves out of jobs. There is a great need for massive sustainable landscaping across the country, they said. “And there’s plenty of earth to be rejuvenated,” said Hess.
Photo and quotes courtesy of UNH.
