White House Garden Tour by Camden Children’s Garden YOUTH & STAFF!

During Visit to White House, Garden Youth/Staff posing with White House Horticulturalist Jim Taylor and Staff, CCG proudly shows their page in First Lady’s book ,”American Grown”.

The Camden Children’s Garden (CCG) youth and staff were honored to receive an invitation to the Fall White House Garden Tour from the White House “Let’s Move” Office.  Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by the First Lady, dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams.   The Camden Children’s Garden was recently featured in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Book, American Grown.  On October 14, the tour was enjoyed by CCG director Mike Devlin, two staff members, two youth staff and partner from Whole Foods Market Washington DC store.

During the October 14^th Tour, the “NATION’S FIRST HORTICULTURALIST” greeted the Garden Youth and Staff at the White House Kitchen Garden and posed for a photo with the excited Camden gardeners.  Jim Adams is the chief horticulturalist at the White House, planning the landscaping of the 18 acres and food grown in the White House Kitchen Garden.  Mike Devlin, Director of the Camden Children’s Garden, met Mr. Adams through their mutual mentor Jane Taylor.  Jim Adams began his former gardening career as Jane Taylor’s horticulturalist student at Michigan State University.  Jane Taylor, a now-retired professor at MSU, is known as the “Mother” of the Children’s Garden, inspiring the movement of children’s gardens nation-wide and even “planted the seed” for the Camden Children’s Garden.   Through Mike Devlin’s efforts in founding the Camden City Garden Club (CCGC) and later the Camden Children’s Garden (CCG) and fighting childhood obesity/hunger through education and community gardening in Camden, NJ, he was given the “JANE TAYLOR AWARD”, the 2008 Great American Gardeners Award, by the American Horticultural Society.   Jane Taylor and the American Horticultural Society featured the Camden Children’s Garden at the 2008 National Children and Youth Garden Symposium, where gardeners and horticulturalists from around the nation were amazed by the progress made by the CCG and CCGC.

SEE MORE CCG WHITE HOUSE GARDEN TOUR PHOTOS!    #WHGarden Tour

Following the Tour, the CCG staff and youth enjoyed a healthy lunch at the P-Street Whole Foods Market in Downtown Washington DC.  Thank you to Daniel Thaeler for joining us for the tour and providing a great lunch and tour!

• MORE ABOUT JIM ADAMS, Nation’s First Horticulturalist –  http://gardenrant.com/2009/11/the-real-white-house-kitchen-gardener.html
• MORE ABOUT JANE TAYLOR, “Mother of Children’s Gardens – http://www.ahs.org/youth_gardening/2011/keynote.htm
• MORE ABOUT MIKE DEVLIN, founder/director of CCG/CCGC – http://camdenchildrensgarden.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/expert-urban-gardener/

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MORE ABOUT – Jane Taylor Award and AHS National Children & Youth Garden Symposium Visit. 

Jane Taylor (left) with Mike Devlin, Valerie Frick and AHS Board Chair Susie Usrey at the AHS awards gala at River Farm in Alexandria, Va., in June. Devlin and Frick were honored with a national award for their contributions to youth gardening.

Jane Taylor (left) with Mike Devlin, Valerie Frick and AHS Board Chair Susie Usrey at the AHS awards gala at River Farm in Alexandria, Va., in June. Devlin and Frick were honored with a national award for their contributions to youth gardening.

The Camden Children’s Garden hosted hundreds of educators and horticulturists from all over the country on July 26 as part of our participation in the American Horticultural Society’s 16th annual National Children & Youth Garden Symposium.  We were thrilled to be able to give people who love youth gardening the chance to see what we’re doing here in Camden – especially with our youth employment and job training program. The garden & youth received rave reviews.

We wanted these visitors from about 35 states, and several countries, to get a sense of the variety of programs and activities our garden brings to Camden, in addition to being a safe, green oasis in which children can play and learn about nature. Staffers and Garden designer explained their process for creating the garden exhibits and education programming.

David Henriquez and Marchelle Roberts, who grew up in Camden and graduated from our youth employment and job training program, impressed all our visitors with their presentations about what the garden has meant to them. “They were absolutely eloquent. There was not a dry eye in the audi­ence,” said visitor Jane Taylor, the “Mother” of the Children’s Garden.

Mike was honored to welcome each group in the Piney Woods Amphitheatre, and told them why this occasion was so special to Val and him – it was the very first national symposium on children’s gardening, where we heard Jane Taylor talk about her garden for children at Michigan State University, that inspired us to envision a children’s garden for Camden.  In June, Val and Mike were honored to receive the 2008 “Jane L. Taylor Award” from the American Horticultural Society for their work with young people through the Camden Children’s Garden and the Camden City Garden Club.  This national award was presented at a gala at River Farm, the society’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.