Bottle bush, giant cabbage, squash, beans, and American Beauty. These are all plants that grow in the Westbrook garden.
   Mrs. Tiffany Garcia doesn't allow her Environmental Education class to stay in a stuffed-up classroom reading about plants all second period. They learn hands-on by working in the Westbrook garden.
   The students recently planted banana peppers, squash and orchids to the garden. Other plants in the garden include the giant cabbage, American Beauty roses, and vegetables like broccoli, spinach, tomatoes and onion. The herb garden portion includes rosemary, basil, lemon balm, mint, anise, thyme and oregano.
   The class works outside in the garden once or twice a week, Mrs. Garcia said. The students plant, weed, and harvest the various plants.
   “My favorite time working in the garden was when we harvested strawberries” said Ava McCain, 7th.
   Another thing the class does is germinate seeds. “Germinating seeds is when you grow the plants from the seed,” said Mrs. Garcia.
   The plants from the garden also attract different types of insects. The class studies the insects on the plants instead of just looking at a dead one in a classroom.
   Another plant the class is growing is Spartina. Spartina is a plant that students all over the CCISD grow. The plants are grown in small pools until they reach a certain height. They students have to use a checklist to make sure the plant is healthy. Then these students, and some students in the Westbrook's Eco Club, will go to Galveston and replant the plants along the coast to prevent erosion. Westbrook Intermediate is one of the only schools where all the Spartina plants are healthy.
   Mrs. Garcia’s students aren’t the only ones using the garden to learn. Mrs. Tonya Solinsky-Holtsclaw, science, taught a Walk to Learn mini-course about gardening. The class learned about different types of bean plants. They planted two types of beans, bush and lima. They learned how to weed, water, and tend to the plants, Solinsky-Holtsclaw said.