Members of Scouting America can earn a Plant Science merit badge by successfully attending and completing the fourth annual merit badge event on Oct. 17 hosted by Texas Master Gardeners of Fort Bend County. The program will be from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Fort Bend Office Educational Center, 1440 Band Road in Rosenberg. The $20 registration fee includes lunch. For more information, email yacboyscouts@fbmg.org Register at Plant Science Merit Badge with Fort Bend Master Gardeners at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1thPBMAnG90QC39gCorQqoPoEvcAWVftXUCb-baTikSWoPA/closedform.

Master Gardener Clarence Gray of Missouri City is among the volunteers who work with the youths.

"I'm motivated to help with the Merit Badge -- the Gardening Merit Badge as well as the Plant Science Badge," said Gray.

"We want to try to motivate and educate youth, especially scouts, to get involved in environmental stewardship, to have them understand the interconnection between the soils, the plants, the air and water in order that they understand that there's an interconnectivity and a responsibility and accountability for our environment," said Gray. "That's my motivation," he said.

To earn the merit badge, the Scouts must be able to identify five or more parts of a flowering plant and tell what each part does. They must be able to explain the process of photosynthesis and explain why it is important to plants. Scouts will also learn about honeybees and other pollinators and know how to propagate plants by seeds, roots, cuttings, tubers and grafting and use one of the methods to grow a plant and much more.