Jefferson High School Greenhouse and Experimental Biome Gardens

I collaborated on this project with another Landscape Architect friend of mine, Sara Fairchild. The project originated from a $250,000 grant that afforded the design and construction of the greenhouse area and experimental gardens. The greenhouse which is climate controlled also has a lathhouse (an enclosed structure of lattice that is protected from the sun but subject to outside temperatures) that allows newly rooted and developing plants to be gradually brought outside from the greenhouse.

There is also a potting area that is just covered with a shade structure and has open sides. The experimental gardens have 2 components; the first being the raised beds that the students plant with comparative experimental plants (corn that is grown with fertilizer versus no fertilizer) as well as the perimeter areas that are structured as biome specific plantings. Biomes represent recognizable climate zones with plants that have adapted to the specific variants of heat/cold and wet/dry. Examples include: Tundra (cold-dry-windy), Rainforest (warm-wet-humid), Desert (warm-dry-windy), and Chapparel (Mediterranean – warm dry summers and cool wet winters). There are 8 biomes in total. We designed the gardens to include about 12 different plants representing each biome and with climates markedly different from Southern California we improvised by using plants that carried characteristics similar to the plants of that region.

It was a challenging project and one that just got completed so these photos represent the beginnings of a potentially great garden.