Laura Flannery and her son, Aidan, are part of an innovative garden program started by Shannon Nass, an applied behavior analysis life skills teacher at Mt. Lebanon High School.

Flannery is a board member with Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy, working on social media, newsletters, the native plant sale and also helping organize and deliver free public programs such as  winter sowing workshops for the past three seasons. The program has continued to flourish over those three years.

She saw an opportunity for the conservancy to collaborate with the district’s special education department by bringing that winter sowing workshop directly to the students.

Flannery fell in love with gardening as a child growing up in Ireland, so she understands how important gardening can be for children. “I started gardening years ago with my dad at home in Cork,” she said with a smile, “and we would do a little bit of vegetable gardening. Nature was always important to us.”

The nature conservancy provides supplies, guidance and ongoing support for the winter sowing and spring planting. So far, the students have planted more than 30 native plants of 10 species, all winter-sown by the students or shared by local native plant gardeners. The conservancy also donated a fringe tree to plant.

Winter sowing involves filling containers with planting mix, then seeds and putting the containers outside during the cold. The seeds sprout when things warm up in the spring.

Planting days were as enjoyable for the adults as the students, according to Flannery. “I would just bring in a big tub of soil, all of the supplies, the seeds and whatnot for them and scoop it, fill up their containers and they were just totally into it. It was really nice too because it became kind of a social event too, so it’s fun, right? They’ve been really engaged and enthusiastic each time I visited.”

After the seeds sprout the next spring, the students plant the seedlings in the garden with the help of Nass and Flannery.

Once the garden is established, they hope to have it certified as a wildlife habitat and offer it for inclusion in the Mt. Lebanon Public Library’s garden tour, so the students can meet the community and showcase their work.

The gardening program is an important tool to help disabled students. “Sometimes it feels like your kid, depending on the level of their abilities can feel like they can be excluded sometimes from environmental spaces and educational spaces,” Flannery remarked. “It’s really important to me that those kids aren’t excluded and that we reach out to them and find ways to include them because their contributions really are valuable. They are highly capable of being good stewards for the environment, contributing to their communities and that’s what I want these kids to do and that’s what they are doing.”

Nass and Flannery offer guidance and structure to give the students what they need to be successful in the garden.

Flannery’s goal is to engage the students in environmental stewardship and help them build practical skills. “Sowing seeds, planting, tending, that may translate into future job or volunteer opportunities,” she said, “while also connecting them with nature, improving the local environment, and giving them a sense of accomplishment. It just makes me feel good to see things grow and to see people grow and then when you can bring those two things together, it’s like magic.”

Maria Wheeler-Dubas sits in a classroom at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens discussing her love of working with kids in the garden. As science education program manager, one of her jobs is bringing students to the conservatory.

“I would say in a joking way I like to describe my job is I’m a professional nerd and I like to make more nerds,” she said.

She books schools to come to Phipps and then plans whatever activities they’re going to partake in while they’re at the conservatory. That could mean a docent tour or a classroom program. Those classroom programs, she adds, “run the gamut from learning a little bit more about gardening and agriculture or about plant science to learning about ecology.”

It’s important for her to make sure the students experience includes hands-on instruction too. “Nobody wants to come on a field trip and just hear a grown-up talk at them for 45 minutes,” she said with a smile.

One example is a discussion of pollinators that can see in the UV spectrum, Wheeler-Dubas said. “I have black lights and UV light markers to help illustrate that so kids can write secret notes or pretend that they are the flower writing a note to a bee.”

Middle and high school students also get a chance to use a microscope, something that Wheeler-Dubas enjoys sharing with them. “The kids can go outside, collect pollen samples or find algae or duckweed out in our lagoon and bring them back and look at them under the microscope.”

She said there are many benefits to getting kids outside and in the garden. “We know that when we spend time outdoors, we feel better, our feelings of stress decrease. We know that we feel better when we’re outside. Especially for kids, their attention spans are better when they’re outside.”

Wheeler-Dubas points out that when green spaces and gardens are around schools, they are generally associated with higher levels of academic performance and higher levels of attendance. “Then especially with gardening, she adds, you get all these extra benefits because now you’re in the soil, you’re in the dirt, so that’s wonderful.”

Another benefit for kids: Often they are more willing to try different foods when they’ve grown it themselves. “There’s a sense of pride, a documented association of kids spending time gardening vegetables and having a higher likelihood of consuming more fruits and vegetables,” said Wheeler-Dubas.

Students who visit the conservatory are from many different backgrounds, some from rural environments and others from the city. “I think that’s one of the reasons that I love education as a career, “said Wheeler-Dubas. “Getting the chance to watch people learning something new. I love seeing kids’ faces light up when they make a connection that they hadn’t realized before.”

She has sage advice for home gardeners who would like to garden with their children.

“I would say giving kids as much agency and autonomy as they can for their own little garden space — even if you don’t have a big yard, even if you have a container garden on a porch — that’s still a wonderful opportunity to get started.”

Depending how young the kids are, she added, maybe give them some help and guidance, maybe make the suggestions of companion plants too. “Especially when they have questions,” she added. “Really encourage them when they have made that effort to find the answers. It’s making it a positive, encouraging experience, and then also giving them the creative freedom to try things out.”

For Wheeler-Dubas, the chance to pass on her love of gardening and science is one of the reasons she feels rewarded in her career. “When students come here, I hope that they are a little bit more excited for the world around them. I really want to spark that early sense of love and wonder for the outdoor world.”

And if she does end up inspiring a few like-minded nerds? “Someday I’m making the best trivia team ever.”