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Big News At The Memphis Botanic Garden

Here on the FSN Blog, our Plant Expert answers hundreds of your plant care and identification questions. However, when we’re stumped, we often turn to the Memphis Botanic Garden for their advice. This week, they received BIG news and we thought we’d share in the excitement!

Weeping Blue Atlas CedarThe Memphis Botanic Garden just received a huge endorsement for their tree program by being designated the first Center of Excellence for Urban Forestry in Tennessee.

As a Center of Excellence, they will sponsor educational programs, help with arboretum certification, actively promote tree health and growth, and be the arm of the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council in West Tennessee. There will be three COE’s total for the state, theirs will be the only one in West Tennessee.

In a blog from last June, we wrote about the Garden’s already-extensive tree program:

Memphis Botanic Garden offers visitors 96 acres of small gardens and trails, thousands of flowers, but also thousands of unique trees. With 152 different species of trees, the Memphis Botanic Garden is classified as a Level IV Arboretum by the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council. This Level IV designation makes the Garden one of four in the state and the only one in West Tennessee. “We estimate there are at least 2000 trees in the Garden – with lots of duplicates,” says Adult Education Manager Laurie Williams. Read more about the trees at the Garden.

Patrick Haller, TUFC President, commented that “This is a definite step forward for urban forestry in Tennessee and we are excited about this program.”

Congratulations again for a well-deserved honor. If you’re in the West Tennessee area, be sure to pay them a visit!

 

Get Out, Get Inspired! Visit Your Local Botanic Garden

If you need a boost of creativity this summer, get out to your local botanic garden. If you’re a florist, or just a flower-lover, there are huge benefits to visiting gardens FULL of summer beauty.

Inspiration At Botanical GardensGet In The Mood For Summer – The gardens will definitely put you in the right mood for the season. The vivid colors of the flowers and the incredible variety you will see will certainly set you on a course for inspiration.

Be Impressed – At a botanic garden, you will see dozens, if not hundreds of unique flowers, plants and trees that you probably have never even heard of before. The surprise is, they are actually growing in your area! (It’s always astonishing to me to see just what’s possible in my area with a little love and some hard work.)

Keep Track of Creativity – Most botanic gardens divide their grounds into several themed smaller gardens, such as butterfly gardens, four seasons gardens, Japanese gardens, etc. These can be very inspirational. Carry a journal along with your camera to keep track of color patterns you see, creative use of flower pairs, and anything else than inspires you.

I am fortunate enough to live close to the Memphis Botanic Garden, which offers visitors 96 acres of small gardens and trails, thousands of flowers, but also thousands of unique trees. That is one thing to keep in mind when visiting the gardens — Look Up!

With 152 different species of trees, the Memphis Botanic Garden is classified as a Level IV Arboretum by the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council. This Level IV designation makes the Garden one of four in the state and the only one in West Tennessee. “We estimate there are at least 2000 trees in the Garden – with lots of duplicates,” says Adult Education Manager Laurie Williams.
[Read more…]

Snowy Nights In My Big Back Yard

Snowy Nights at the Memphis Botanic Garden

Our good friends over at the Memphis Botanic Garden in Memphis TN are having a big, holiday shindig just for kids through the month of December! (They are always helping us with our toughest Ask The Expert questions, and deserve a little recognition for this fun and festive kids event!) In the children’s garden, AKA My Big Back Yard, you will find a whole world of winter games, crafts and discoveries just for kids! When you first enter you will be hardily greeted with falling snow and continue walking through a dazzling display of lights. Children will learn an assortment of traditional winter games and crafts, like bean bag toss and making finger puppets. Kids will also be able to learn about and discover different wintertime plants in the garden — including a raised vegetable bed growing winter veggies, like carrots.

Memphis Botanic Garden's My Big Back YardThe fun doesn’t end there! There is a fire pit for roasting yummy marshmallows into smores. The giant Light Bright is sure to be the kids favorite. (You remember Light Bright… from the 90’s. The little, colored pegs that go into the black paper with a bright light behind it… ya that’s the Light Bright!) The folks at the Memphis Botanic Garden have created an enormous version of this for the kids — the pegs are even made out of water bottles! Another kid’s favorite is the Snowbox. A winter take on the sandbox, kids will be able prance and play in the soft, snowy hills.

“Our focus is on getting kids connected back with nature,” says Jana Gilbertson, “It’s a good way to get them outside, even in the winter and learn what it’s like to run around and play. […] We like to teach them how to get outside and play again.”

If you live in or around Memphis TN, be sure to swing by the Memphis Botanic Garden and check out all of their winter events!

The dates for Snowy Night events are: December 3-4, 10-11, 17-23, 26-28 from 5:00-7:30 p.m. For more information, check out their website: Memphis Botanic Garden

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