ROSEBURG, Ore. — Standing beside a raised bed filled with orange and pink zinnias, 12-year-old Lily Kehoe pointed toward the flowers while longtime Master Gardener volunteer Chris Rusch held a bloom steady for a closer look.
“Kids really like to get out into nature and actually plant something, watch it grow and harvest it. It’s cool to see these kids put in the work, grow something and then be proud of it.”
Kehoe has learned that flowers do more than brighten a garden. They attract pollinators, can be cut for bouquets and, with careful tending, might become entries at the Douglas County Fair.
Those lessons are part of the Douglas County 4-H Junior Master Gardener Club, which gives youths hands-on experience with horticulture, from starting seeds and growing food to identifying insects, installing irrigation and learning about nutrition.
The club is at least two 4-H Junior Master Gardener program offered through Oregon State University Extension Service in Oregon. Another, in Marion County, brings garden-based science and nutrition education into schools and seasonal programs.
“Teaching young people how to garden is really important these days,” Rusch said. “I wanted to instill the pleasure you get out of growing your own food.”
Horticulture comes to 4-H
Douglas County 4-H offers many opportunities for youths, but it did not have a horticulture club when Rusch approached Logan Bennett about starting one.
Bennett, an OSU Extension small farms and Master Gardener coordinator in Douglas County, worked with Rusch and the Douglas County Master Gardener Association to establish the club. They consulted with the Junior Master Gardener program in Marion County and adapted the national curriculum developed through Texas A&M for use as a local 4-H club.
The club began in 2025 with five members and four Master Gardener volunteer leaders. All five members entered projects at the Douglas County Fair and earned blue ribbons. Four qualified for the Oregon State Fair, and two of the three who chose to compete there also received blue ribbons.
“We wanted to bring 4-H horticulture back to the fair,” Rusch said.
Interest increased in the club’s second year. Bennett said there are 15 currently enrolled members.
The club meets twice a month at the OSU Extension Service Douglas County Agricultural Learning Center in Roseburg. Members study subjects including seed and plant anatomy, insects, soils, irrigation and food crops. They also keep 4-H record books documenting their work.
Master Gardener volunteers help care for the garden between meetings, harvesting vegetables before they become oversized and deadheading flowers so they remain suitable for fair entries.
The program is intended to be accessible to youths regardless of their financial resources or previous gardening experience. Scholarships and mentoring are available through the Douglas County Master Gardener Association.
Marion program brings gardens to schools
In Marion County, 4-H Junior Master Gardener programming reaches youths through schools, camps and partnerships with Master Gardener volunteers rather than through a traditional 4-H club.
The Marion County program began in 2016 and uses the national Junior Master Gardener curriculum to teach plant and seed science, insects, soils and water, fruits, vegetables, herbs, landscape design, healthy living and service learning.
In fall 2025, OSU Extension 4-H educator Alix Brant and Marion County Master Gardener volunteers partnered with six classrooms at Highland Elementary and Kennedy Elementary, including two dual-language classrooms.
The six-week series combined science and literacy activities with lessons about plant needs, plant parts and growing plants in the classroom. Each session included a fruit or vegetable tasting to help students learn where food comes from and encourage them to try unfamiliar foods.
The school program was offered in response to a request from the Marion County Board of Commissioners for hands-on learning opportunities in schools.
4-H in Marion County also has offered Junior Master Gardener day camps for youths ages 8 to 12. An advanced course introduced in 2024 added art and service-learning projects at the Marion County Master Gardener Association demonstration garden. Participants created garden signs, succulent displays, photographs and educational materials while helping harvest berries and apples.
Parents have reported that participants became more interested in gardening, cooking and eating fresh produce. The program also gives youths opportunities to practice teamwork, build friendships and work with Master Gardener volunteers who serve as mentors.
Learning among flowers and food crops
Back in the Douglas County garden, Kehoe moved between tomatoes, marigolds, zinnias and calendulas while explaining what she had learned.
She entered the club with some gardening experience but said she now understands more about the different conditions plants need, including how much water they require.
The tall zinnias made a particular impression.
“This one’s almost going to be taller than me,” Kehoe said. “This is wild.”
She also has learned to recognize damage from cucumber beetles. When she found damaged leaves, she explained how members remove the pests from the plants. At home, she said, her family feeds captured cucumber beetles to their Venus flytraps.
On another walk through the garden, 10-year-old Sara Twarowski pushed aside potato foliage and examined the crop developing beneath the soil.
Twarowski, also of Roseburg, is in her second year of 4-H. She helped install drip irrigation, learned to identify beneficial insects and pests and suggested planting a pumpkin patch so the club could sell pumpkins around Halloween.
When Bennett pointed out a yellow cucumber beetle that resembled a ladybug, Twarowski quickly identified it as a pest.
“It’s an imposter,” she said.
The club’s garden looked different during its first year. Members planted directly in the ground and struggled to control weeds. Before the second growing season, volunteers and members built raised beds, installed weed mat and added timed drip irrigation.
Rusch said the new system made the garden easier to maintain while giving members another practical lesson.
“That was a big learning curve for the kids, to learn how to install the drip irrigation and all the emitters,” she said.
Twarowski said seeing a plant progress from its beginning to harvest gives her a sense of accomplishment.
“It makes me happy to know that it actually worked,” she said.
Skills extend beyond the harvest
Whether youths participate through a Douglas County club or a Marion County classroom, Junior Master Gardener activities turn science, nutrition and environmental education into practical experience.
Participants see how soil, water, insects and plant care affect a crop. They also practice observation, teamwork, decision-making, responsibility and recordkeeping while learning how food moves from seed to harvest.
The programs bring together the youth development experience of 4-H and the horticultural knowledge of Master Gardener volunteers. They also introduce youths to a subject that might otherwise receive less attention than livestock and other long-established 4-H projects.
For Bennett, the value becomes apparent when children see the results of their work.
“Kids really like to get out into nature and actually plant something, watch it grow and harvest it,” he said. “It’s cool to see these kids put in the work, grow something and then be proud of it.”
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