Knowing the difference between a cyclamen and a ceanothus wasn’t a prerequisite to attend Bakersfield College’s first-ever Garden Fest on April 22.

“It was very successful,” said BC Horticulture Professor Lindsay Ono.

The one-day event was held in the Horticulture Lab located on the east side of the main campus and featured eight gardening seminars ranging from bed-plants, tree, and sod care to soil treatment and exotic plant care.

The highlight seminar was a “how-to” workshop on constructing a koi pond and waterfall.

Mike Prestige and A.J. Walker from Buck’s Landscape Materials were on hand for the event to give a step-by-step tutorial of the entire building process.

The new pond features three fish at the moment and is now a permanent structure in the Horticulture Lab.

“They have been a little spooked,” said Ono, referring to the fish that live in the pond.

According to Ono, about 350 people attended the event that was created to draw community awareness to the horticulture, agriculture and forestry programs offered at BC as well as raise money for the lab. Ono also said that he hopes the number of people who attend will grow as the event gains momentum each year.

Also on hand for the event were nearly all of the Kern County area garden clubs.

“It is a good opportunity to get people exposed to the different garden clubs,” said Rob Rephan, president of Bakersfield Green Thumb Garden Club.

Rephan also said that his club provides a $1,000 scholarship for students who are enrolled in the Agriculture Program at BC.

Also at Garden Fest were the Bakersfield Cactus and Succulent Society, the Camellia Society of Kern County and the Bakersfield African Violet Society as well as representatives from Robbie’s’ Nursery and Old River Sod.

In addition to the multitude of garden clubs, Garden Fest also featured campus organizations as well.

Horticulture, agriculture and forestry students sold a variety of plants and trees in their greenhouse and nursery areas.

“We sold a lot,” said 23-year-old Christal Goltra, an environmental horticulture major.

Goltra added that she would have liked to have seen more advertisement and to “incorporate more of the students.”

BC ceramics students had four tables and were selling some of the work from the department for prices that ranged from $2 to $65.

The ceramics students came up with their own prices.

The Campus Cat Coalition had a booth and was selling quilts, pillows and other home knick-knacks.

Les Oxford and Donna Pitcher of Bakersfield attended Garden Fest.

The two are members of several of the area’s garden clubs.

“We came because we’re interested in growing and propagating,” Pitcher said.

Oxford and Pitcher traveled to Italy the following day to tour the different variety of gardens the region has to offer.

Ono also said that the goal of the event is to draw people to the Horticulture program at BC.

One thing he mentioned was to get students from the local elementary schools involved with the lab and also high school-aged kids as well as BC students.

“We want to attract elementary on up,” Ono said.

Some projects that Ono discussed to draw more students into the program would be to create a butterfly garden in the lab and also to establish and maintain an arboretum.

“It will be bigger and better next year,” said Ono.

Staff photographer Steven Martin contributed to this story.