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Preschoolers and toddlers from the Child Development Center prepared a special Mother’s Day surprise for their moms thanks to Greenhouse Manager Audra Otto.

Otto hosted four groups of children Wednesday for a flower planting event in honor of Mother’s Day at the John R. Roach Center Greenhouse.

Otto established the Mother’s Day event that former Greenhouse Manager Steve Trost first began. After Trost’s retirement, the greenhouse staff was unable to put on the event last year. As the new manager, Otto thought the program was a good idea for outreach into the community and should be continued.

“I want the greenhouse to be a point of connection with the surrounding neighborhood community and with students, faculty and children of the neighborhood,” Otto said.

The children were split into groups: “Roadrunners,” “Lightning Bolts,” “Busy Bees” and “Doodlebugs.” Each group planted flowers in six-inch round pots to bring home for Mother’s Day Sunday.

Rows of annual flowers, including various types of violas and marigolds, lined a wall of the greenhouse. At the potting station, student volunteers assisted children filling pots with soil and three to five flowers of their choice.

The preschool-aged children also got a tour of the greenhouse and all its individual rooms. Otto said although the children learn about nature frequently at the CDC, they do not know about many of the exotic plants found in the greenhouse.

Volunteers focused the toddlers on the tactile aspects of gardening such as the feel of the dirt and the smell of the flowers.

Freshman Acadia Stephan helped at the event as one of five student volunteers from the biology and environmental studies programs.

Stephan said she decided to volunteer at the event as a part of the Green Team because the team “likes to get involved and do things around campus.”

Otto said she hopes the children will come away from the experience with a deeper interest in nature.

“I hope it sparks their curiosity and that when they bring their plants home that they talk about plants and what they learned with their parents,” Otto said. “Hopefully they’ll end up planting them in their garden eventually.”

After Wednesday’s success, Otto wants to put on the event annually to keep kids involved and interested in gardening and nature.

Morgan Neu can be reached at neu92582@stthomas.edu.