By David Rogers. December 21, 2011. BLOWING ROCK -- Forget Halloween, its ghosts and gremlins.  A group of Blowing Rock School students are learning about tricking daffodils to grow in the winter -- to provide treats for Valentine's Day!

Town of Blowing Rock landscape specialist Perry Davis and Blowing Rock Appearance Advisory Commission horticulture guru Graeme Justice visited Allyson McFall's gardening class on Wednesday to recognize the students' achievements during the fall semester and make a special contribution to the class' growing research library.

"These kids have worked very hard and deserve to be recognized for their achievements, which are contributions to the school's physical campus -- but more, too," observed Justice. "If the students, faculty and staff of Blowing Rock School are coming to work on a more beautiful campus because of these gardening students' efforts, then it has a beautifying effect on everyone's minds, too, improving their attitudes and morale.  Beautifying the spaces in which we live and work, as well as putting food on our tables: that's what gardening is all about."

Blowing Rock News was on hand for McFall's class Wednesday morning, during which she, the class and her "consultants" (Davis and Justice), also exchanged holiday gifts. It was the last class of 2011. "This is the right time to recognize the student efforts," Justice explained.

"The first class of 2012 will be January 9th," McFalls disclosed.  "We're probably going to explore forcing plant growth, which basically means you trick the bulbs or the seeds into thinking its springtime. That's how people can get such nice flowers early in the growing season, or even in the off-season."

Among Davis' and Justice's gifts to McFalls and her class was the "North Carolina Master Gardener Manual", published by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.  "The manual is a treasure trove of knowledge and information," Davis told Blowing Rock News.  "We want each of these students to grow up to be master gardeners."

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