Garden Club

About the Garden Club:

🌳“The Grass is Greener On Our Side” 🌱🌼

Welcome to the KCECH Garden Club! We are a community of residents with a shared passion for the natural world. 🌿🌍 We host a number of events to learn more about all that gardening has to offer and ways we can sustainably engage with the environment around us.🌻 

Whether you’re a seasoned green thumb or just beginning to cultivate your interest in gardening, we welcome you to the Garden Club so we can cultivate a greener future together. 🌱

Our History:

Before 1990, Kings Court English College House’s Courtyard was full of concrete and weeds. The development of the KCECH courtyard garden began when House Director (then House Director) Krimo Bokreta and his wife Julie received permission from the Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services to create a small garden in front of their apartment. 

Marta Rivas-Olmeda, former Associate Faculty Director, and her husband Jorge Santiago-Avilés, former Faculty Director of KCECH joined their efforts to eventually create a spectacular herb and vegetable garden in the Courtyard between Kings Court and English House. 

This garden piqued the interest of students who wished to help maintain the garden, and in 1998, our Garden Club was formed. Since then, our Courtyard has become a wonderful greenspace for our students to relax and spend time with friends. Our Garden Club has received two awards from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and one award from the University City District for our Garden. For over 20 years, our Garden Club has been working to keep our Courtyard green for all to enjoy.

What Makes Garden Club?

We have an appreciation for the world 🌍 around us and aim to preserve the greenery in our community through the Courtyard Garden. Our Club provides a space for individuals with an interest in gardening and the environment to come together and build a community. Our Club fosters a unique blend of community, environmental stewardship, education, and personal enrichment. All that we require is you! 

Workshops And Events

  • Maintaining our Garden
  • Hydroponics Planting
  • Longwoods Garden Tour
  • Succulent Workshop
  • Baking Using Ingredients from Our Garden
  • Tea Making with Ingredients from Our Garden
  • Soap Making Workshop
  • Homemade Ginger Ale Making
  • Earth Day 
  • Propagation
  • Philadelphia Flower Show
  • Flower Pressing

KCECH Garden Club