Gardenpalooza grows at Hillcrest Elementary
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Green thumbs got a workout at Hillcrest Elementary over the weekend.
Students, staff and parents planted herbs and vegetables in the school’s community garden as part of its fifth-annual Gardenpalooza on Saturday. Led by Hillcrest’s Green Team, with the support of Smith Gardens, the hope is that the hard work will yield a plentiful harvest of tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and more this summer.
“We’re really excited about it,” Meghan Trueman, the school’s teacher librarian and Green Team coordinator, said.
Every class at the school participates in the Green Team’s horticultural endeavors, according to Amber Hagel, a speech pathologist at Hillcrest and another Green Team member. That includes maintaining two gardens on the school grounds, with the community’s help.
Normally, the school receives seed donations to plant, which are raised to seedlings in classrooms before they are transplanted during Gardenpalooza. Community members are encouraged to take home what they need, and anything left over is donated to the North Whidbey Help House, a food bank in Oak Harbor, Trueman added.
“We really invite our community, our families to come and water and harvest what they can take and eat,” Trueman explained. “It’s really hard because we’re out of school at the end of June and then July, August, September are huge harvest months.”
Bellingham-based Smith Gardens provided the seedlings planted during Saturday’s event as part of its school outreach program, Cultivating the Future. The wholesale grower is more than 120 years old, with multiple locationson the West Coast.
Hagel said she helped facilitate the school’s partnership through her friendship with Sarita Cantu, a marketing manager at Smith Gardens. Cantu said she felt excited to have been involved in the Gardenpalooza.
“We’re just pumped to get (the next generation’s) hands dirty, get them outside and planting,” she added.
Trueman elaborated that the ritual of gardening is beneficial to students beyond allowing them to enjoy the fruits of their labor. She described Hillcrest’s gardens as a kind of “sanctuary” for students.
“There are studies out there — I can’t quote anything — but having human beings digging in dirt, there’s something just so nurturing about that,” she added.
