The Disconnect Between Botanical Gardens And The Public Need

Jonathan Alcorn for The New York Times - Laila Romero, a sous-chef, preparing appetizers at the Camellia Lounge at Descanso Gardens.

The New York Times reported this week on the steady decline in attendance at botanical gardens across the country.

It is no surprise. My regular monitoring of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the New York Botanical Garden among others shows clearly that they have lost their way. For example, instead of teaching urbanites how to grow food they waste time showing them how to cook it. We already have enough celebrity chefs doing that in other more appropriate venues.

Instead of teaching current day core subjects botanical gardens are teaching plant-growing methods from a prior rural century. They seem unaware that gardening in the dirt is not the path of modernity in the 21st century. Unfortunately, they all too often receive fawning adoration from dirt gardeners who simply don't know better.

In my view, the root cause is our horticultural education system that is badly in need of overhaul. The land grant colleges clearly need a makeover, starting with curriculum and new progressive teaching staff. It is no easy task to change the direction of this monolithic system.

Highlighting this problem is very timely. It is precisely the reason why the Center for Urban Greenscaping (CuGreen) is embarking on an education program to teach city dwellers about modern methods such as sub-irrigation systems.

The kick-off event is the free introductory seminar being held tomorrow evening at the Gowanus Studio Space in Brooklyn. It promises to be a lively and well-attended event.

More information and a seminar registration link.

via www.nytimes.com

For the last quarter century, the Cleveland Botanical Garden went all out for its biennial Flower Show, the largest outdoor garden show in North America. With themed gardens harking back to the Roman empire, or an 18th-century English estate, the event would draw 25,000 to 30,000 visitors.

But in 2009, the Flower Show was postponed and then abandoned when the botanical garden could not find sponsors. This year, the garden has different plans. From Sept. 24 to 26, it is inaugurating the “RIPE! Food & Garden Festival,” which celebrates the trend of locally grown food — and is supported in part by the Cleveland Clinic and Heinen’s, a supermarket chain.

“The Flower Show may come back someday, but it’s not where people are these days,” says Natalie Ronayne, the garden’s executive director. “Food is an easier sell.”

Comments

[Neill Dorado]

you obviously have not been to the New York Botanical Garden recently, because their Edible Garden exhibition, even though it has cooking demonstrations every day and great chefs participating, it also has plenty of programs that show visitors how to grow their own vegetable gardens. And there is a great container garden display for those who do not have outdoor space to plant in the dirt. I wish you and the New York Times would educate yourselves and the public about what is really happening at the Garden. Thank you.

[Greenscaper]

Thanks for expressing your opinion Neill. Dissenting points of view are welcomed. Please read today's post. http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2010/08/the-record-speaks-for-itself.html

If you are involved in any way with management of the NYBG it would be good to do some reflective thinking on what went wrong with this communication that was obviously bungled.