Since the school year started, students in Floral Design have been arranging flowers, but know they’re learning how to grow them.

“The milk jug project is basically a miniature greenhouse project,” Floral Design teacher Brittney Avant said. “Students get to pick what seeds that they want to grow, ranging from fruits and vegetables to flowers, and then they plant them in a greenhouse-simulated environment that we’ve created inside of the milk jugs to watch their seeds grow in an accelerated environment.”

Allowing students to choose what seeds to plant gives them a chance to customize their greenhouses and possibly even grow their own food.

“I’m growing eggplants and some flowers in my milk jug greenhouse,” sophomore Camila Villareal said. “I wanted to grow flowers and see if I could keep those alive and I thought it would be cool to grow an eggplant too. It’s fun that I get to choose what veggies I wanna grow because now I’m kinda invested.”

If their seeds sprout successfully, students will also be able to repot their plants and take them home to continue growing them over the summer.

“I’m excited to watch the growth and progress of my plants over the next couple of weeks,” sophomore Bia Godoy said. “And then take them home at the end of the school year and eventually plant them into a pot at home. I’m really excited to see if I can keep them growing all summer, because that would be cool.”

This project helps students actually apply the skills they’ve learned all year and put them into practice; learning their strengths and weaknesses.

“Depending on the plant that they grow, they get to practice different techniques and skills for keeping that plant alive,” Avant said. “As well as remember the practices that we’ve learned throughout Floral Design as they continue on through the summer and depending on how long they keep their plant alive, they could maybe have these self-grown for many years to come.”