In Memoriam: Garden Recollections of Menuhah (Suzanne) Peters (May 22, 1956 – October 24, 2025)

Menuhah Peters was the best early educator I ever had the privilege to know and to call my friend. This morning I have just learned the sad news of her passing from 6000+ miles away, and so am writing to share a few recollections.

Menuhah made a huge and lasting impression on the world through her early education teaching and what she shared about it online (photos always shared with written consent). For Menuhah every setting was a classroom and every experience an opportunity for learning and teaching. I was fortunate enough that this included my garden.

Menuhah exemplified the mantra of renowned educator Professor Reuven Feuerstein (z”l) who taught me that the only limitation on learning is lifespan.

Over the last several years that my family lived in Cleveland Park, Washington DC, I hosted Manuhah’s class a number of times. I don’t recall how it started but it always brought joy.

Below are some of the photos of their visits and the amazing way that Menuhah amplified our experiences in her classroom. Her photos and captions convey the essence of the experience; this morning I am feeling sad and lack words to add much to her descriptions.

Spring Bulbs

By the way, the cover photo (above) of the kids drawing tulips in our front garden was part of Menuhah’s Impressionist unit. And based on their drawings, they got it. (What genre of art did you study in pre-school?)

Encouraging Young Gardeners

Some of Menuhah’s posts remind me of long forgotten events, like harvesting seeds from purple globe thistles (echinops ritro) to give to the children. In the post below she celebrates the plant that one student was able to grow from the seeds. (After seeing her post I found a few photos of how I had packaged the seeds, also included below.)

Anyone who knew Menuhah should not be surprised that she kept meticulous records of the activities and accomplishments of her students – contemporaneously and for years afterwards!

Decorations with Pumpkin Leaves

When our time together coincided with Jewish holidays, she found a way to use materials from my garden in the classroom. Below are a few ways that she used pumpkin leaves as Sukkot decorations – one of which she gave to me to use in our Sukkah:

Celebrating Changes of Season

For Menuhah, everything was additive: she brought her class over at different times of year to see the progression of the garden and transition of seasons; here they are arriving to my impromptu pumpkin patch:

Thank You Cards

And as if all of that did not bring enough joy, Menuhah also delivered by hand – and accompanied by her young students – handmade thank you cards that I have valued and kept over the intervening years and miles that separated us.

Stealth Crocuses

We had one other very meaningful gardening experience planting crocus bulbs in a small corner of the Adas Israel front lawn in November 2013. My understanding is that the crocuses bloomed annually, ever since, as captured below by Menuhah in 2017. I hope that the crocuses may have naturalized and spread, to serve as an enduring memorial to Menuhah’s invaluable contribution to Adas Israel. I would love to hear from anyone who may have seen them in bloom over the years.

May Menuhah’s memory be an everlasting blessing. Baruch Dayan HaEmet.