Allison B. Wallace describes a seminar in organic horticulture she created and teaches as part of an honors curriculum. She answers the question of how gardening is appropriate for high-ability college students by saying that she believes efforts to raise plants by relatively non violent means teaches and disciplines students in an ethical way to be in the world. She further expresses her belief that honing gardening skills and sharing the fruits of a season's labor contribute to the development of self-confident yet humble adults who are inclined to greater thoughtfulness about the material enactment of their intellectual and ethical commitments.