Although we haven’t yet discovered plants living in space, we have given a lot of our plants space-related names. Get your students to bring their study of plants in space down to earth by populating a garden with plants that have extraterrestrial titles.

Objectives: Students will plan a tribute to space exploration by designing a garden full of "space" plants.

• Complete the first four steps of the design process, including a site analysis, base map, bubble diagram, and initial design map.
• Next, research plants with space-related names and determine if they would grow well at your site. Here are a few to get you started:
  
  

  Star Magnolia
  Sunflowers Galaxy Peach
  Star Jasmine
  Blazing Star (liatris)
  Red Rocket Crapemyrtle
  Moonlight Caladiums
  Moonflowers
  Cosmos
  Stargazer lilies
  Star Cluster (pentas)
  
  
• Complete your design map by inserting your space plants into the plan. You may want to add hardscape features like moon rocks, sun dials, and shuttle seats!
• Finally, install your new garden and host a Launch Party.

Branching Out

It takes more than a cosmic name to become a plant that can grow in space. They need to be short, grow in low light, have few inedible parts, result in a quick and reliable harvest, and have resistance to disease. Although existing plants are certainly being tested for their compatibility, researchers are also using plant breeding and genetic engineering techniques to make new plants that will thrive in space. The following articles offer some details:

Prozac for Plants
Designer Plants on Mars

Ask students to research additional plant growing experiments in space and write a summary of each experiment and its findings.