It’s planting season at Algonquin College

Algonquin College’s Garden Centre is open for business.

The Garden Centre will be open every Tuesday and Friday from noon. to 1 p.m. during the student’s outdoor lab time, just outside the M-building.

“All proceeds from our garden centre go back to the students” said Horticulture Industries professor Jason Vodden. “We use it to pay for field trips, student barbecues, or stocking the fridge with popsicles and drinks for hot days.”

“There are countless studies linking the benefits of being in the presence of plants, from improved concentration, to heightened immune responses,” said Vodden.

Household plants can reduce toxic levels of formaldehyde, a chemical found in all households according to the Environmental Health Perspectives journal published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

“Plants bring me joy” said Lise Snedden, a member of the Kemptville Horticultural Society and graduate of the Algonquin College Horticulture Industries program. “I cannot live anywhere without plants with me. I have always had tons and tons of greenery with me.”

For those with no experience taking care of plants, both Vodden and Snedden recommend a form of succulent.

“Succulents such as Kalanchoe and Echeveria are among the plants considered easier to tend to.” said Vodden.

“Jade plants can grow almost anywhere under any circumstance,” said Snedden “I’ve got two jades and every morning I turn on the living room lamp they’re under. That’s all the light they get.”