Nurturing Careers: Beatrice High School’s Annual Plant Sale and the Importance of Botany Education

This week, the Beatrice High School science club is hosting its annual spring sale. The event takes place in the school’s greenhouse, which was initiated several years ago as a grant project by Dr. Joan Christen. For the past five years, BHS teacher Paula Heinz has been in charge of managing the greenhouse and plant sale. She mentioned that the science club and botany students play a role in assisting with the sale.

Paula Heinz expressed her desire for her students to gain essential plant knowledge through this project. Her dual-credit botany class is crucial to the success of this initiative, and she aims to involve agricultural classes in the future. She emphasized that students are taught about plant structures and processes, such as cells, transpiration, nutrients, and water requirements for photosynthesis.

The plants sold at the sale are ordered from plugs from commercial greenhouses since BHS holds a distributor’s license and does not develop its own plant varieties. The selection of plants is based on new and interesting varieties that are easy to care for. Heinz hopes that students will learn about plant care, greenhouse maintenance, and skills that could lead to careers in landscaping, plant science, genetics, gardening, or lawn care.

The sale primarily features annual bedding plants, with a few perennials included. These plants are suitable for pots and landscaped beds. The sale hours are Wednesday to Friday from 3:45-5 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m., interested individuals are advised to park in the high school parking lot and enter through the front doors before proceeding past the main staircase to reach the back of