High Altitude Demonstration Garden Design
Primary Topic:
Natural Resources and Sustainability
Other Topics:
Economic and Community Development, Food and Agriculture
Internship Overview:
This internship will allow a student to design and implement demonstration gardens for a high-altitude community. There are three focus areas of the Plant Select demonstration garden: 1) a community vegetable garden in Fairplay; 2) a plant select landscaping demonstration/educational garden in Bailey; and 3) an exploratory sensory garden for the Park Women Infants and Children (WIC)/Health Department visiting children. Visitors to the Fairplay & Bailey Community Centers will have the opportunity to see an example of what they could plant at their own home, and grab a flyer, in the kiosk, that has the designs of the beds and how they are laid out, along with what plants are in the designs. The area will be divided up to give people examples of multiple garden themes, such as sensory garden, pollinator garden, xeriscape garden, alpine garden, native plant garden, and community vegetable garden. Once the designs are created the intern will partner with Park County Master Gardeners to put those designs into action at the Fairplay & Bailey Community Centers.
Goals, Scope and Objectives:
This will be a wonderful opportunity for a student to fully design and implement a high-altitude demonstration garden from start to finish! These garden designs will be seen by all who enter the space and people will be encouraged to pick up a map of the design to take home and implement in their gardens. This is a great professional development opportunity for students to add to their portfolio all while making a difference in the Park County Community. The challenges for designing this space are the high altitude, soil conditions as well as harsh climate that accompanies Park County. Citizens in our community are excited and eager to learn how to effectively garden in our community and you could help them fulfill that goal!
With which stakeholder group(s) will the intern work?
Park County Government, Park County Master Gardeners, CSU Extension Agents, Fairplay citizens
What student learning outcomes do you anticipate and what are the opportunities for professional development?
A high-altitude demonstration garden will be designed and implemented by the student from start to finish! Garden designs will be visible to all who enter the space, and visitors can take a map home with them and use it in their own gardens. Students can develop their professional portfolio while contributing to the Park County Community at the same time. It was challenging to design this space because of the high altitude, the soil conditions, and the harsh climate that accompanies Park County. It is our community’s goal to teach citizens how to effectively garden, and the intern could help them with that!
