Programs for Schools

Check out our SCHOOLS programming for 2025 and BOOK your class visit now! We provide unique experiences for your class throughout the year; fall, winter and spring! Our gardens offer many seasonal opportunities to connect with indigenous plants and food crops, experience demonstration gardens and explore wilderness spaces. Our pathways and engaging facilitator open young minds to vital relationships with natural systems that need to be observed and supported.

Programs are 1.5 hours and we offer an optional 30 minute self guided activity in the gardens for an additional fee. Program fees include entrance into the gardens. Consider seasonal visits for fuller experience and to participate in stewardship in our gardens for lasting connections.

Contact our School & Youth Program Coordinator; [email protected] for more information or use the link provided to book your program.

Share the experience!  Book together!    Book now! 

Programs Offered

Garden Creatures

Worms, snails, birds and snakes! Join us in the garden to discover all the animals that call this place home. Together, we will learn about who they are, what they need to survive, and how we can help their habitat.

Curricular Competency Learning Standards

Living things/Life cycle/Adaptation/First Peoples

  • Demonstrate curiosity and a sense of wonder about the world
  • Observe objects and events in familiar contexts
  • Ask simple questions about familiar objects and events
  • Experience and interpret the local environment
  • Recognize First Peoples stories (including oral and written narratives), songs, and art, as ways to share knowledge
  • Discuss observations
  • Represent observations and ideas by drawing charts and simple pictographs
  • Consider some environmental consequences of their actions

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

Seasons

Explore the gardens with your senses! Smell flowers, see bees, listen to the birds, touch the soil, and maybe even taste something delicious! No matter the season, there is always something to discover in the garden!

Curricular Competency Learning Standards

Living things/Life cycle/Adaptation/Watercycle/Seasons

  • Demonstrate curiosity and a sense of wonder about the world
  • Observe objects and events in familiar contexts
  • Ask simple questions about familiar objects and events
  • Experience and interpret the local environment
  • Recognize First Peoples stories (including oral and written narratives), songs, and art, as ways to share knowledge
  • Discuss observations
  • Represent observations and ideas by drawing charts and simple pictographs
  • Consider some environmental consequences of their actions

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

Worms

Worms aren’t the only hard workers in the garden! Come explore the other animals, bacteria, and fungi that are breaking down organic matter and turning it into soil! Get ready to get your hands dirty!

Curricular Competency Learning Standards

Living things/ Biodiversity/ First Peoples concepts of interconnectedness in the environment/ First Peoples knowledge of sustainable practices

  • Demonstrate a sustained curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest
  • Make observations in familiar or unfamiliar contexts
  • Identify questions to answer or problems to solve through scientific inquiry
  • Make predictions about the findings of their inquiry
  • Experience and interpret the local environment
  • Identify First Peoples perspectives and knowledge as sources of information

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

Plant Life Cycle

In this engaging hands-on program students will learn about the plant life cycle through seed starting techniques, transplanting and the basics of plant propagation.  Each student will have the opportunity to get their hands dirty  and take home their planted seeds.

Curriculum Competency Learning Standards

Living Things, Lifecycle, First Peoples concepts of interconnectedness in the environment

  • Demonstrate a sustained curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest
  • Make observations in familiar or unfamiliar contexts
  • Identify questions to answer or problems to sole through scientific enquiry
  • Identify First Peoples perspectives and knowledge as sources of information

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

School Gardens

Does your school garden have you stumped? Wondering what to plant and when? Come explore our educational garden or invite us to yours to learn about growing food for you, flowers for pollinators, and habitat for garden animals!

Curricular Competency Learning Standards

Natural selection/ Biodiversity/ First Peoples concepts of interconnectedness in the environment/ First Peoples knowledge of sustainable practices

  • Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest
  • Make observations aimed at identifying their own questions about the natural world
  • Identify a question to answer or a problem to solve through scientific inquiry
  • Formulate alternative “If…then…” hypotheses based on their questions
  • Make predictions about the findings of their inquiry
  • Experience and interpret the local environment
  • Identify First Peoples perspectives and knowledge as sources of information

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

Water

Do you ever wonder about water? How do plants drink with their roots? Where does water go after it rains? How does dirty water become clean? Come learn about the vital role of water in the gardens, the nearby wetlands, and the watersheds we live in!

Curricular Competency Learning Standards

Interaction with environment/ Biodiversity/ First Peoples concepts of interconnectedness in the environment/ First Peoples knowledge of sustainable practices

  • Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest
  • Make observations aimed at identifying their own questions about the natural world
  • Identify a question to answer or a problem to solve through scientific inquiry
  • Formulate alternative “If…then…” hypotheses based on their questions
  • Make predictions about the findings of their inquiry
  • Experience and interpret the local environment
  • Identify First Peoples perspectives and knowledge as sources of information

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

Ethnobotany

Join us in W̱SÁNEĆ territory to learn about the cultural and ecological importance of native plants and ecosystems. Together, we will walk the Ethnobotany Trail, learn about the indigenous names and uses of plants, and discuss the importance of native ecosystems as we navigate our climate crisis.

Curricular Competency Learning Standards

Interaction with environment/ Biodiversity/ First Peoples concepts of interconnectedness in the environment/ First Peoples knowledge of sustainable practices

  • Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest
  • Make observations aimed at identifying their own questions about the natural world
  • Identify a question to answer or a problem to solve through scientific inquiry
  • Formulate alternative “If…then…” hypotheses based on their questions
  • Make predictions about the findings of their inquiry
  • Experience and interpret the local environment
  • Identify First Peoples perspectives and knowledge as sources of information

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

TEACHER WORKSHOPS

Curricular Competency Learning Standards will be met through your needs. The classroom presentation includes lesson plans, all the materials to offer hands-on classroom gardening activities and HCP facilitation (currently virtual). Designed for teachers and their classes, the program will engage students in an enriched plant-centric experience in their own classroom and support their teachers along the way.

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

Curricular Competency Learning Standards will be based on your needs. The Virtual Classroom is a classroom presentation and kit. Designed for teachers and their classes, the virtual classroom program will engage students in an enriched plant-centric experience in their own classroom and support their teachers along the way.

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

Are you looking for a garden tour for a group of students and or teachers who would benefit from our unique garden experience?  Our knowledgeable guide will take you on a beautiful journey through our demonstration gardens and natural spaces to showcase the seasonal interests and explore the use of these spaces as a meaningful teaching tool.

Book, email [email protected] or Call 250-479-6162

Questions? We would love to hear from you!

GET IN TOUCH

Territory Acknowledgement

We at HCP gratefully acknowledge that the Gardens are located on the ancestral territories of the lək’ʷəŋən peoples, represented by the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, represented by the W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), BOḰEĆEN (Pauquachin), SȾÁUTW̱ (Tsawout), W̱SIḴEM (Tseycum) and MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat) Nations. With gratitude, we work and learn where people come together in appreciation of plants and stewardship of the Gardens.

505 Quayle Rd. Victoria, BC V9E 2J7

Phone: 250-479-6162

Email: [email protected]