From the apricot flowers in the orchard to the ferns in Graduate’s Grove, Harker’s campus blooms with fresh spring. New growths are sprouting with the turn of the season, and more flowers are appearing day by day.
“My favorite part of campus is the orchard,” Groundskeeper leader Urdelin Justo said. “We have a lot of different plants and prune them at the start of the year. It’s a big campus, and it’s not like before with only bushes — everything has started to grow.”
For students, the blooming flowers can offer a different perspective on campus life. Melody Yin (12) also noticed the orchard’s cherry trees.
“[The cherries] are in bloom right now and they’re really gorgeous,” Melody said. “It’s really nice to have that touch of lightness when you’re walking to class and it’s 8 in the morning, and it’s gloomy and you look over and you see cherry tree flowers. It brings a little bit of happiness.”
Maintaining the orchard’s trees–apricot, cherry and plum–requires pruning every February, and the trees fruit during summer. As the number of plants on the Saratoga campus has increased over the years, more work is also required to replace dead shrubs or help slow growers.
“I feel satisfaction to take care of something like this, that they trust me to do this,” Justo said. “When you do something like this, the result is that the flowers come — or sometimes they don’t. But we try to take care of it as much as we can.”
The effort translates into bright flowers and greenery during spring across campus. A variety of species carpets Harker’s campus, from birds of paradise to redwoods.
“The coral pea flowers are really pretty,” Melody said. “They remind me really strongly of orchids, and the reason why I like them so much is because they have them growing at the lower school and the upper school, and they bring a lot of nostalgia to me whenever I see them.”
Flowers often represent a sense of connection and togetherness. For Oskar Baumgarte (12), roses in particular hold a special importance.
“My grandpa used to take care of roses,” Oskar said. “He had like 400 roses in his backyard, and all different kinds of colors. They’re part of my childhood., Whenever I visit his house, I go to see the roses. He was known as Mr. Rose. We would pick weeds in the backyard and when they got old, we sold all the roses for really cheap to neighbors.”
Melody takes a different approach to flowers, finding joy in the act of giving.
“I like making flowers for my friends,” Melody said. “This past January or February I found out about French beading and I started making flowers out of like beads and wires for my friends, which was a lot of fun to do. I generally view giving flowers in a little bit more of a platonic context in comparison to a romantic one, like it’s a way of establishing friendship with my friends.”