Community Service Projects
Community service projects are developed in collaboration with organizations or agencies that provide services to their community through activities or sites where activities can take place. Students are hired for OPS positions or internships to help with the planning and design of the projects. Most projects involve multiple meetings with the client before and during the project, including site visits, design workshops and final presentations to stakeholders. Typical project sites include schools, hospitals, community parks, and community learning and education centers.
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Vivarium and Learning Center Milton Florida
The butterfly house (vivarium) and learning center was designed in collaboration with Mary Salinas, Residential Horticulture Agent in Santa Rosa County, Mack Thetford, Associate Professor, West Florida REC and Claire Lewis from the FFL Program. The plans include a new butterfly house and outdoor butterfly garden, a learning center and pavilion, and a courtyard that connects to the historic house and an existing camellia garden.
This site plan shows the layout of the Butterfly Garden, courtyard, and learning center for the new Panhandle Butterfly House.
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Florida Hospital Fish Memorial Community Garden
The “garden in a park” was designed in cooperation with Joe Sewards, Volusia County Horticulture agent, FFL staff Jen Marvin, and staff from the Florida Hospital. Features in the park include a covered pavilion for gatherings, over 80 raised garden beds for growing edibles, a courtyard with moveable raised beds for handicap accessibility, and a second courtyard for community gatherings. A wide, accessible walkway runs the length of the park and a planted rain garden was designed to collect and store stormwater. The park was also designed to host a variety of educational classes and community events. The plan was used to secure an ECHO grant to pay for partial installation of the garden.
A site plan for a community garden with raised planters at Florida Fish Memorial Hospital.
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Fort White Middle School Teaching Garden
Located in Fort White, Florida, the middle school garden include teaching plots for science, history, languages, math, civics and global studies, and heirloom plants. The gardens also included a pavilion, raingarden/stormwater facility, a wildlife garden, and fruit and nut trees. The plan was developed in collaboration with teachers and administrators at the school.
The site plan for a teaching garden at Fort White Middle School.
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Heritage Park Live Oak Florida
Developed in collaboration with the city parks Department and the Historical Society, the Heritage Park features the historic Crapps home and estate grounds. Students worked with members of the historic society to design a wedding garden, event lawn, activity spaces and pathways through a variety of gardens. A landscape architecture graduate student, Max Gooding, was hired in an OPS position to create images of the wedding garden and the historic house for use in the park brochures and advertisements.
A rendering by Max Gooding (student) shows the proposed landscape for the entry drive.
From left to right, two members of the Historical Society, Gail Hansen, and student, Josh Levitt, walk up the entry drive.
A rendering by Max Gooding (student) of the proposed landscape for the wedding garden.
A rendering by Max Gooding of the wedding garden at night. The renderings by Max were used in promotional materials for the park.
Two members of the Historical Society and Gail Hansen discuss landscape for the ballroom garden.
A rendering by Max Gooding shows a view of the Ballroom Garden, lit for the evening, looking back at the historic Crapps house.
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Ybor City Firehouse
The Ybor City Firehouse landscape was a community service design project in collaboration with county extension agents, the firehouse staff, and faculty from the environmental horticulture department. The landscape was designed to be a Florida-Friendly demonstration garden.
Landscape plan for a Florida-Friendly Garden at the Ybor City Firehouse.
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Seminole County Environmental Studies Center
The environmental studies center was designed as a demonstration and activity garden with the help of PhD student Taylor Clem. The demonstration areas included an ethnobotany garden, pollinator garden and a water-wise landscape. The activity areas included a sensory garden and a seed garden with plants with unusual seeds, cones, and fruits. The garden included a workspace for students learn about seed collection, sorting, and preservation. Plants were also used for various class activities in the center.
A plan with a variety of gardens for different teaching activities at the Seminole County Environmental Center.
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The Grove at Jonesville- Jonesville Park Edible Garden Training Center
The Grove at Jonesville is a garden training center located in Jonesville Park, Gainesville, Florida. The Grove was designed in collaboration with Alachua County extension agents, the parks director for Alachua County, and PhD student Taylor Clem. The training center is for learning about pruning and maintenance for fruit trees, including figs, mulberry, avocado and citrus trees. The site also includes a small vineyard, blueberries, a pollinator garden and a picnic area and small building for indoor training classes.
The Jonesville Park site plan shows a variety of citrus and other tree groves for designed for pruning classes.