Still Thriving In The City Urban Horticulture Program

The Cleveland Botanical Garden’s Green Corps is a high-school work study program that employs students at five urban farms in Cleveland neighborhoods. Green Corps teaches life skills, plant and agricultural science, and community and environmental stewardship. Their Midtown Learning Farm location was established in 1996 and features a historic carpenter gothic Yellow House that was moved to this site to serve as headquarters for the program.

The 2000 Founders Fund Award went to a project created by the Garden Club of Cleveland, the Shaker Lakes Garden Club and the Cleveland Botanical Garden to create a demonstration garden adjacent to the Yellow House testing the hardiness of native species in urban environments. Plants were purchased and grown at the Midtown Learning Farm in a setting that duplicates the urban environment where they grow without assistance from pesticides or irrigation. A research intern was hired to study the plants over a four year period and the findings were then circulated to botanical centers, parks and growers throughout the region.

Today, the Midtown Learning Farm location is the most seasoned of the Green Corps growing centers where sustainable agriculture techniques are taught and healthy eating habits are created for students, families and the community