'Tis the growing season
Students grow and sell holiday cheer
Around this time of year, bright and vivid poinsettias and lush green Christmas trees spring up everywhere. But they don’t appear out of nowhere. Someone must nurture these plants and trees for months or even years before they sprout seasonal cheer.
For MU students in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, that process provides a valuable learning experience. The Horticulture Club hosts an annual poinsettia sale. Likewise, Forestry Club members sell Christmas trees every year on the east side of Faurot Field. Other students get floriculture experience at the Tiger Garden store, which also sells poinsettias, among other flowers and plants.
“It’s just neat to learn all aspects of the process, starting all the way back in September,” says Amanda Brinker (pictured above), president of the Horticulture Club. Club members cut the poinsettia plants, nurture them through to the potting stage, then take turns watering and caring for them. They watch for pesky insects and monitor sunlight.
They deal with occasional adversity, Brinker says, as when a heater malfunctioned and resulted in the loss of 100-plus plants. In the end, though, it’s worth it when they sell the beautiful plants and contribute to a holiday tradition. Proceeds from the sale were around $1,650 this year. That money goes toward greenhouse rent and supplies, with profits going directly to club activities, including an “adopt-a-family” Christmas charity and club field trips to botanical gardens, greenhouses and conferences.
For Forestry Club members, the four-day Christmas tree sale is the culmination of year-round work on a tree farm. Students help plant the traditional Scotch Pines, take care of them, shear them during the heat of summer and harvest them. Proceeds from the sale go to an endowed scholarship for forestry students, says club adviser and Associate Professor Hank Stelzer, who also took part in the sale when he was an MU student in the early 1970s. This year's sale raised $5,180, despite record-setting snows in Columbia.
Like the poinsettia sale, the tree sale is about more than just raising funds. “I think students get a lot not only from managing the trees, but also from learning to interact with people,” Stelzer says, “and it’s a much-needed break on the eve of finals. It’s just a good stress release.”
Forestry Club members sell Christmas trees on the east side of Faurot Field each year, after growing and monitoring them year-round. Likewise, Horticulture Club members grow and sell holiday poinsettias.
