Texas A&M planting seed for seven-acre outdoor classroom

​COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M University breaks ground this month on its first large-scale public teaching garden, The Gardens at Texas A&M University.​

Phase I of The Gardens, the Leach Teaching Gardens, will serve as Texas’ leading teaching and demonstration garden. The seven-acre outdoor classroom will include a pavilion and thematic gardens such as a rain gard​en, food and fiber field, vegetable beds, butterfly and bee garden, and Earth-Kind plantin​​​gs​​. 

Once phase-one construction is c​omplete, The Gardens will grow to include an amphitheater, learning center, children’s garden, rose​ garden, and great lawn.​ The 27-acre master plan also calls for a feed-the-world-themed courtyard that will pay homage to the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Father of the Green Revolution, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug.

Groundbreaking will be held at 2 p.m. June 17 on the lawn of the Agriculture and Life Sciences Building on campus, located at 600 John Kimbrough Blvd. The Gardens will be ready for visitors in 2018.