Parkland Garden Club partnered with Upper Macungie Township again to offer a gardening activity for children who attended the summer camp. This year's program helped the campers learn about planting seeds and pressing flowers. PGC Co-chairs Karly Lazo and Vicki Sorg worked with UMT Recreation Supervisor Makayla Brunnabend to develop the gardening workshop which was offered to children aged 6 through 12 on June 24th, July 1st and July 29th, 2025 at Veterans, Jaindl and Fogelsville elementary schools. 

The campers were divided into groups by age and began the activity by listening and answering questions from a book called “From Seed to Plant” by Gail Gibbons. The book introduced the young listeners to the processes of pollination, seed formation, and germination. The PGC volunteers were fortunate to have 2 former teachers help with this activity - Barbara Campbell who taught in the Parkland School District for many years and Marianne Wagner, a former teacher at St Joseph the Worker. 

The next part of the program involved pressing flowers. The campers selected a few colorful flowers and bright leaves that were prepared by PGC members. The children pressed them in a "book" made of card stock and left them to dry for several weeks.  The pressings were used in a later class where they were made into bookmarks.

The final activity was planting a four o'clock flower seed, a plant the blooms at four every day and closes its flowers by morning. PGC member Ann Mitman brought plants from her garden to show the children and seeds that she harvested for the activity. Each child filled their pot with soil, planted their seeds and gave them a sprinkle of water.

The children really enjoyed this fun and educational program. In addition to Karly, Vicki, Ann, Barb and Marianne, thanks go out to Maria Dax, Gwen White, Deb Pinto, Helen Papathanasiou, Judy Huff and Gail Micca for all of their help.

We had four winners in the National Smokey Bear & Woosdy Owl 2025 Youth Poster Contest representing Pennsylvania. All the winners are students at Cetronia elementary school:

Grade 1 - Fiona Osborne, 1st Place

Grade 2 - Anaaya Kumar, 2nd Place

Grade 3 - Brilee Wiebel, 1st Place

Grade 5 - Haley Gallagher, 3rd Place

Congratulations to all of these young artists!

Students with their art teacher Susan Hardy, right and PGC Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl Chair Barbara Campbell, left.

Parkland Garden Club partnered with Upper Macungie Township Recreation Supervisor Emily Crosby-Piszczek to offer a gardening activity to help children who are attending the summer camp learn about seeds, soil, and earthworms. PGC's Helen Papathanasiou, Gail Micca, Karly Lazo and Vicki Sorg developed the gardening workshop which was offered to children aged 6 through 12 on June 18th, 19th and 25th, 2024 at Jaindl, Veterans and Fogelsville elementary schools. 

The campers were divided into groups by age and began the activity by listening and answering questions posed by Barbara Campbell. Barbara read a book called “The Saved Seed” written by Brenda Moore, the current president of National Garden Clubs, Inc. The book illustrates how seeds saved from carving a pumpkin at Halloween can be planted to grow a vine with new pumpkins for the next year.

Gail Micca brought a tray of tiny basil plants that she started from seeds and prepared small pots of a rich soil mixture. She instructed the children to carefully separate one seedling to plant in their pots. The campers then had their choice of a bean, pumpkin or squash seed to plant in another pot. 

Karly Lazo brought earthworm castings to add to the soil. Karly talked about the importance of earthworms for healthy plants and brought a tray of worms that the children were excited to see and touch. 

It was a successful and enjoyable program. In addition to Helen, Gail, Barbara and Karly, thanks go out to Carol, Mary, Megan, Maria, Ardith, Millie and Brenda who assisted with the activity.