In 1937 Gustav George Gerbing transformed about seven acres of family property along the Amelia River into a public garden, Gerbing’s Azalea Gardens, with plans for massive plantings of azaleas and camellias for viewing and for sale. The entire fifteen-acre holding became Gerbing Gardens, with groves of native trees including cedars, magnolias, bay, pines, live […]
Some of the most beautiful gardens I’ve ever seen are located on the exquisite grounds at the Maymont estate in Richmond, VA. The house and surrounding land was owned by James Henry and Sallie Dooley, who resided on the property from 1893 through 1925. After their deaths, the lands were bequeathed to the city of […]
It came to the attention of the Fairbanks Garden Club that our city was in danger of losing a type of rose that was brought here over sixty years ago. The ‘Pier Bugnet’ rose has proven to be a very hardy one for our harsh environment. It thrives in fifty below zero temperatures in winter […]
Following 2013 flood, Clemson architecture students rebuild the South Carolina Botanical Garden. Just more than one year ago, the summer of 2013 saw a flood wipe away most of the South Carolina Botanical Garden’s nature trails and bridges. But thanks largely to Clemson University architecture students, who spent much of the past nine months rebuilding […]
I live in South Bend Indiana, and most likely always will. Here is the story of a garden in my community. Here in South Bend we have a wonderful Japanese-style garden that has a good backstory. The Japanese garden was built near a park, near a public pool, and the name of the garden is […]
As a student at New College of Florida in Sarasota, I fell in love with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Fellow students and I visited to luxuriate in orchid-filled nooks and get away from campus. When campus was steamy and oppressive, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens felt refreshing and rejuvenating. As a Spanish-language literature major, I never […]
The Arboretum is located in Sandpoint, Idaho on Lake Pend Oreille. In addition to the beautiful lake, there is a mountain resort for winter skiing. Locals often observe, “we’re almost in Canada,” in an area referred to as the Panhandle. It has stunning scenery, four seasons, and residents who cherish the quality of life. It […]
“The Hill” is a steep, woodland slope at the corner of Nelson Street and College Parkway in Rockville, Maryland. The Garden Club of College Gardens (GCCG) has landscaped and maintained a garden there since the 1970s. The Club is part of the National Capital Area Garden Clubs, Inc. and draws its approximately fifty-three members from […]
Nestled within the thirty acres of one of the most beautiful zoos sits a small parcel of land dedicated to education, conservation and promotion of gardening at the Santa Barbara Zoo. The idea of an onsite garden had been bounced back and forth among staff for a number of years. After the completion of a […]
The Poquoson Learning Garden is located at the Poquoson Museum, the former sixteen acre William Freeman Dryden farm in the City of Poquoson, Virginia. The museum campus contains a circa 1900 farm house, agricultural out buildings, frontage along the marshes of Topping Creek and a country store known as ‘Miss Becky’s Store’ that served local […]
Omar B., a zone gardener with the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), shares entries from the journal he keeps about his work with the environmental non-profit founded by Bette Midler in 1995 to preserve and transform public green spaces in New York for all citizens to enjoy. His writing gives us a day-to-day peak inside […]
The Van Vleck House & Gardens originated as a 12-acre private estate more than 140 years ago when Joseph Van Vleck Sr and his family moved to Montclair from Brooklyn in 1868. Like many successful businessmen of the era, Joseph Van Vleck Sr came to the suburbs seeking a refuge from industrial living and brought […]
Sarah Hedean is the Living Collections Manager at Smithsonian Gardens. I sat down to talk with her on August 9, 2017 about her career, the field of horticulture and some of her current undertakings with Smithsonian Gardens. For part two of our interview, on the subject of bluebird nesting boxes at the Smithsonian Gardens greenhouses, […]
An essential part of a public botanical garden is visitor education and being a docent is my small way of helping with that mission. It is about as stress-free as anything could be. But it was with some trepidation that I heard Cheri V., our education curator say, “The garden manager wants to see you.” […]
In 1843, Luke Gannon and his family, immigrants from Ireland, built a log cabin in what is now Crystal Lake, Illinois. The restored cabin was moved to Union, Illinois in 1966 on the grounds of the McHenry County Historical Society. Two years ago, in 2015, the Historical Society asked the University of Illinois Extension Master […]