Featuring activities in and around Allen Centennial Garden, UW Family Gardening Day is a banner springtime community event at UW–Madison. Typically, families can enjoy learning about plant life and gardening, and take home some free plants as well. But with campus closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Family Gardening Day was canceled.

Johanna Oosterwyk and her Horticulture 335 Greenhouse Cultivation Lab students had been growing a multitude of plants for that day. So the crew shifted gears and found ways to get the plants out into the community through entities like the Goodman Community Center, Badger Rock Neighborhood Center, and Eagle Heights Community Gardens.

Other student teams grew plants for Madison’s Period Garden Park, Middleton Outreach Ministries, and Dane County Extension’s Teaching Garden, among others.