Karen Cherubini, chair of the volunteer committee and UD Class of 1995 alumna, was the students’ first point of contact when it came to questions about the garden. She gave them a tour of the garden, highlighting key pieces such as the fencing, the pergola, community bulletin board and the apiary section that the students made sure to incorporate into the exhibit. 

“The way that they took a tiny space and put all of the defining features of The Spring Gardens into it was quite the design achievement,” Cherubini said. “We were walking through the Philadelphia Convention Center to try to find it, and as soon as we saw it, we knew.”

Cherubini explained that before the garden came about, the area had incidences of drug activity and gun violence, but the community was able to turn this around.  

“It was a bad scene years ago,” she said. “But now when you walk into it, it’s like a magical oasis in the middle of the urban jungle. And I think they captured it perfectly.”

Both Cherubini and one of the club’s advisors, Karen Gartley, have both received lots of feedback from community members about how well they were able to create this magical feeling their garden emulates into their exhibit. 

“I’ve gotten so much feedback this week from gardeners,” Cherubini said. “Even the old grumpy ones who hardly smile about anything, they’ve been calling and messaging saying, ‘This is unbelievable.’”

“They tried to highlight several of the key parts of their garden because since it’s a city block, there was no way we were going to fit in everything,” added Gartley, who is also the director of the Delaware Soil Testing Program. “But it was really nice that community members could walk up and see their garden in what we did.” 

Gartley handles logistics, communication with club and helps to source and take care of  the plants that the students in the club pick for their exhibit, while the club’s other co-advisor, Stefanie Hansen, supervises all the building and construction so that students in the club can utilize the Resident Ensemble Players’ Theater Scene Shop space and equipment. 

Hansen, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance, allows the students access to materials they need to incorporate the structural aspects of the exhibit, such as the pergola and fencing. 

“After everything was built, I was really proud of how the fencing turned out because it was tricky to make,” Nolt said. “But also I’m really proud of how much the other club members were able to accomplish. It really turned out well.”

In addition to incorporating the same plants and structures from The Spring Garden into their exhibit, the club reached out to Our House Montessori, a school within the community, and crafted some of the children’s drawings into a mural. 

“We were interested in having some sort of neighborhood involvement outside of the garden,” said Catherine Boettger, a junior landscape architecture major and UD Flower Show Club president. “We wanted to have a mural of some sort and we just thought it would be so cool to work with the local school.”

They coordinated with the younger grades at the school to create 26 different panels that the students felt represented the community garden. Each tile depicts different memories or features that the students associate with the garden.

“All the panels are really interesting, they used different methods like stamps and leaf prints,” Nolt said. “My personal favorite was one where someone painted a memory of building snowmen in The Spring Garden. It’s the sweetest thing ever and I’m really proud of that.” 

Once the show is finished, the club plans on coating them so that they can withstand outdoor conditions, and displaying them permanently in The Spring Garden. 

“The community garden is a vital extension of our classrooms, providing opportunities for learning, a beautiful green space for us to play in, have picnics at, harvest herbs for our meals, and that's all on top of getting to tend to our plot,” shared Our House Montessori on its social media page after seeing the exhibit.  

The students of the UD Flower Show Club took all the key community elements and united them all into a small exhibit for the show. They have made a lasting impact on The Spring Gardens with their contribution to the mural and making community members feel seen and represented. 

“The way that they brought every age group, different parts of our community and many different communities together into one exhibit was amazing,” Cherubini said. “I’m most proud of them for really embodying the Flower Show’s theme for the year.”

Explore the University of Delaware’s landscape architecture major.