Fruit trees and bee colonies: most beautiful school gardens chosen

In Saxony, the schools with the most beautiful school gardens have been chosen and rewarded with prize money. As the Saxon State Ministry of Culture announced in a press release on Friday, the state winners, the Cossebaude secondary school in Dresden and the International Grammar School in Meerane, each received prize money of 2500 euros. The 128th secondary school "Carola-von-Wasa" in Dresden and the school "Altchemnitz - Förderzentrum mit dem Förderschwerpunkt Lernen" in Chemnitz received a special prize and prize money of 1500 euros each.

The International Grammar School in Meerane, for example, was distinguished by its large, park-like school grounds, according to the ministry. In addition to a snack garden, the school grounds also have fruit trees, a pond and its own bee colonies for producing honey. The beeswax is processed by the pupils into candles and lip balms and sold.

On Friday, Wilfried Kühner, Head of Education, presented the four winners of the 12th Saxon School Garden Competition with their certificates, plaques for the school wall and the prize money. A total of 64 schools took part, it was reported. The aim of the competition was to give pupils "practical experience with garden design". The competition started in May 2022.

The state winners and special prize winners have now been determined during a visit to the gardens of the ten finalists, it said. The jury consisted of school educators, landscape architects, representatives of the State Office for Schools and Education, the Ministry of Culture and the State Foundation for Nature and the Environment.