Roses thrive with student care

Gabriel Velasquez, 13, knows roses.

He knows you don’t just clip off dead blooms (cut five leaves lower), small holes in leaves mean bees have been munching, trimming stems leads to more blooms and Mr. Lincoln is not just a dead president.

The eighth-grade Bartlett Middle School student is the proud caretaker of two gorgeous rose bushes currently thriving, as a result of his tender ministrations, in the campus’ rose garden.

A rainbow of blooms pepper the garden in silent testimony to the day-to-day labor a small group of middle school students who comprise the Bartlett Rose Garden Club. The garden has become a conduit for learning.

“It’s been magic — magic for myself, and magic for the kids,” teacher John Duboski said.

The club members are all enrolled in an unique, sheltered class, taught by Duboski, that assists students facing extraordinary emotional, academic or social challenges.

Once or twice per week, 15 or so students can be spotted drenching the yard with water from a technicolor yellow hose, overturning dirt with long-handled garden hoes or meditatively clipping leaves to encourage new growth.

Duboski said he is routinely impressed by the “ownership, pride and knowledge” the students display with regard to their roses.

His students have learned the history of their roses, looked at them under a microscope and cut the finest in their prime to share their beauty.

Students have delivered bouquets of roses to each of the five Bartlett teachers expecting babies this year.

Vases of roses have also made a difference inside Duboski’s classroom.

If students are having a particularly rambunctious day, they will be relocated to the back of the room near the blooms until the fragrance helps settle them.

“It’s like a ‘Fernanado the Bull’ moment,” he said.

Two of the rose bushes in Bartlett’s garden are especially popular.

Mr. Lincoln, with its striking, red blossoms, and its neighbor, the pale peach Brandy rose, both originated from Porterville High School’s horticulture program.

Velasquez spends most of his time in the garden caring for the Mr. Lincoln, since the Heirloom rose bush he also watches over is still small.

“I like to work on [the Mr. Lincoln rose] because it’s the big guy. It’s like the big brother,” he said.

He uses a clipper to scrape off cobwebs clustered near the roots and scrutinizes leaves to see if they have any sign of bug infestation.

When Velasquez was in seventh grade, the rose planted where his Heirloom currently sits shriveled and died.

“We just lifted it right up. I called this the ‘graveyard place,” he said.

To his delight — and as a result of his knowledge and close attention — this year’s rose has thrived. It currently is spitting out buds, though it is smaller than many of the older plants surrounding it.

One student didn’t partake in the gardening on Thursday.

Eighth-grader Irene Martinez, who joined Duboksi’s class three weeks ago, does not yet have a rose to call her own.

She wandered among the flowers, watching other students pull off dying leaves and expired blooms.

Near the end of the gardening session, Duboski asked her: “You want a rose?”

Martinez, smiling hugely, eagerly nodded her head.

According to Duboski, the “flower therapy” has led to a calmer and more engaged class.

“The kids ask, ‘When do we get to go to the garden?’” he said.

-- Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@portervillerecorder.com.