Tag Archives: exhibit

Smithsonian Gardens’ Campus-Wide Habitat Exhibition

Posted on May 28, 2019 | 2 comments

Sign of the Dragonfly exhibit

The Smithsonian Gardens staff have installed a campus-wide exhibition with a single theme: habitat. From now until December 2020, fourteen exhibits across the Smithsonian campus in Washington DC, both inside and outside, will be available for the public to view.

This Habitat exhibition illustrates diverse stories about habitats and the plants, animals, and humans that exist within those habitats. The message is simple: Protecting habits protects life. This theme was selected for its relevance to the Smithsonian Grand Challenge of “understanding and sustaining a biodiverse planet” and to the Smithsonian Gardens’ mission to “inform on the roles people and plants play in our cultural and natural worlds.”

Dead Wood Is Life exhibit

Three key messages are woven into all the exhibits: habitats are homes, habitats are interconnected and fragile, and habitats need to be protected. Informative signage at each exhibit explains concepts such as indicator, keystone, and foundation species; symbiotic relationships; and ecosystems.

During the exhibition’s run, Smithsonian Gardens staff will host a variety of habitat-related events and educational programs. A map showing the location of the exhibits is on the Smithsonian Gardens website.

  • Sheltering Branches, west side of the National Museum of African American History and Culture
  • Dead Wood Is Life, east side of the National Museum of American History
  • Life Underground, west side of the National Museum of American History
  • We Need You, Victory Garden, east side of the National Museum of American History
  • Nests, northwest side of the National Museum of Natural History
  • Bug B&B, Pollinator Garden, east side of the National Museum of Natural History
  • Biomes, S. Dillon Ripley Center
  • Foundation of the Sea, Enid A. Haupt Garden
  • Key to the Forest, Enid A. Haupt Garden
  • Sign of the Dragonfly, Moongate Garden, Enid A. Haupt Garden
  • Homes, Mary Livingston Ripley Garden
  • Habitat of Flight, Northeast side of the National Air and Space Museum
  • Native Landscape, National Museum of the American Indian
  • Monarchs on the Move, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Bugs B&B exhibit

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U.S. Botanic Garden’s New “Gardens Across America” Exhibit

Posted on May 24, 2019 | 2 comments

Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens’ Flamingo Display

The U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG) has a new exhibit called Gardens Across America. The exhibit showcases 21 public gardens through vignettes created by each garden displaying plants and items illustrating the gardens’ stories. The displays were chosen from a call for entries to all gardens across the country. The vignettes are located throughout the outdoor area of the USBG in Washington DC and range in size and scope. For example, Fort Worth Botanic Gardens is showcasing its begonia mascot; Pittsburgh Botanic Garden is demonstrating cleaning mine water and creating new gardens; Tucson Botanical Gardens has cacti and agaves in its barrio garden; Atlanta Botanical Gardens has carnivorous pitcher plants; and the State Botanic Garden of Georgia has native pollinator plants. The exhibit demonstrates the diversity and beauty of the more than 600 public gardens in the United States. Throughout the exhibit run, which ends on October 1, the USBG will offer programs, workshops, lectures, and tours related to the exhibit.

Tucson Botanical Gardens’ Barrio Garden

The USBG is open to the public, free of charge, every day of the year from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm with outdoor gardens having extended hours until 7:00 pm from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The USBG is at 200 Maryland Avenue SW on the southwest side of the U.S. Capitol. Photos are courtesy of the USBG and gardens include:

  • Atlanta Botanical Garden, Georgia
  • Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, Colorado
  • Bookworm Gardens, Wisconsin
  • Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado
  • Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Florida
  • Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Ohio
  • Lockerly Arboretum, Georgia
  • Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, South Carolina
  • Mt. Cuba Center, Delaware
  • Norfolk Botanical Garden, Virginia
  • North Carolina Botanical Garden, North Carolina
  • Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden, North Carolina
  • Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, Pennsylvania
  • Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, California
  • Sarah P. Duke Gardens, North Carolina
  • Smithsonian Gardens, Washington DC
  • State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Georgia
  • The Botanical Research institute of Texas and the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, Texas
  • Tucson Botanical Gardens, Arizona
  • U.S. National Arboretum, Washington DC

Pittsburgh Botanic Garden’s Water Filtering System

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Celebrating New American Gardens Exhibit at U.S. Botanic Garden

Posted on February 2, 2019 | 1 comment

Portland Japanese Garden

Explore a new exhibit called Celebrating New American Gardens at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington DC. The exhibit showcases 21 gardens in the United States that have created new gardens or renovated a garden within the last five years. Photos, drawings, landscape designs, and project descriptions communicate each garden’s story. These new gardens showcase new plant collections, create spaces for people to connect with nature, and foster sustainability.

Longwood Gardens

“Gardens are always changing – with the seasons, with emerging gardening trends, and with their communities. We are excited to feature these new gardens and showcase the diversity and beauty of modern garden projects,” said Saharah Moon Chapotin, U.S. Botanic Garden executive director.

From now until October 15, 2019, when the exhibit ends, the U.S. Botanic Garden will have programs, workshops, lectures, and tours related to the exhibit. The U.S. Botanic Garden is open to the public, free of charge, every day of the year from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Conservatory is located at 100 Maryland Ave. SW, on the southwest side of the U.S. Capitol. The following are the gardens featured in the exhibit.

  • Adkins Arboretum, Maryland
  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York
  • Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, Massachusetts
  • Chicago Botanic Garden, Illinois
  • Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado
  • Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve, Michigan
  • Green Bay Botanical Garden, Wisconsin
  • The Grotto Gardens at the Dayton VA Medical Center, Ohio
  • Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania
  • Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Florida
  • New Orleans Botanical Garden, Louisiana
  • Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pennsylvania
  • Portland Japanese Garden, Oregon
  • Reiman Gardens, Iowa
  • San Diego Zoo, California
  • San Diego Zoo Safari Park, California
  • State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Georgia
  • Tohono Chul, Arizona
  • Tulsa Botanic Garden, Oklahoma
  • United States Botanic Garden, District of Columbia
  • Waterfront Botanical Gardens, Kentucky

Photos courtesy of the U.S. Botanic Garden.

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U.S. Botanic Garden’s New Exhibit: You Can Grow It!

Posted on February 22, 2017 | Leave a comment

img_4450Check out the U.S. Botanic Garden’s new exhibit — You Can Grow It! From February 18 through October 15, you can see tips and answers to some of the questions people ask most frequently about caring for plants in their own homes and gardens, including how to choose the best plant for their space and care abilities. The exhibit will provide answers to common issues about lighting, watering, fertilizing, and pests, as well as how to rescue a plant that experiences problems. If you are unsure of what kind of plant you can grow, you can find tips based on which direction your window(s) face in a four-panel “house” diorama.img_4446

The Conservatory gallery will feature separate sections with tips on topics such as foolproof plants (for those with a less-than-bright-green thumb); today’s popular succulents; tropical house plants; seasonal plants like amaryllis, Christmas cactus, poinsettia, and more; expert care tips on orchids, carnivorous plants, and others; how to propagate plants from seeds and cuttings; and even hydroponics. Outdoors, You Can Grow It! will showcase plants for growing outside including items for kitchen use like herbs and vegetables, container gardening, and more. 

img_4414Throughout the exhibit run, the U.S. Botanic Garden will offer programs, workshops, lectures, tours, and cooking demonstrations to showcase and provide training on gardening at home.

The U.S. Botanic Garden, 100 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC is open every day of the year from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., free. To learn more about the exhibit, visit www.USBG.gov/YouCanGrowIt. Photos courtesy of the U.S. Botanic Garden.

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New U.S. Botanic Garden Exhibit in Washington DC: Flourish Inside and Out

Posted on May 19, 2016 | Leave a comment

 

Flourish- Inside and Out exhibit logo - U.S. Botanic GardenThe U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG) in Washington DC presents a new exhibit Flourish: Inside and Out from May 21 (this Saturday) through October 2, 2016. The indoor and outdoor exhibit, developed with consultation from Chicago Botanic Garden, showcases the proven human-health benefits of interacting with nature. Research has demonstrated that when people garden or otherwise spend time with nature, they experience increased productivity, better physical and mental health, healing, and improved test scores.

“Plants enrich our lives,” says Ari Novy, executive director of the U.S. Botanic Garden. “In addition to providing the food we eat, clothes we wear and air we breathe, they also have profound and subtle impacts on our heath. The act of gardening has positive physical and emotional impacts on our well-being. Research shows amazing benefits of simply talking a walk in planted areas, such as parks, gardens and natural landscapes. Even a window view of plants has been shown to decrease convalesce time in hospital patients. Through Flourish: Inside and Out, we invite visitors to immerse themselves in the healing world of plants while demonstrating how everyone can bring the power of plants into their lives.”

The East Gallery of the Conservatory will feature indoor vignettes showing how plants can bring the outdoors inside in various settings such as offices, homes, schools, and waiting rooms. Each section will feature ongoing programs such as Green Bronx Machine that is growing greens and other vegetables in classrooms and examples of tools and techniques for indoor plant care.

Outdoors, Flourish: Inside and Out will engage many senses – the front Terrace will feature plants to stimulate the senses of smell, touch, sound, and sight. For visual appeal even at a distance, colors will transition around the Conservatory in a rainbow of warm to cool colors.

The east Terrace beds will profile organizations that use horticulture and gardening in a therapeutic manner with diverse audiences including veterans, current- and formerly incarcerated youth and adults, and people with physical and intellectual disabilities.  These programs promote healthy lifestyles, supply horticultural therapy, provide horticultural job training, and offer gardening-based recreation. Programs profiled will include St. Coletta of Greater Washington, Melwood Horticulture Program, Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest, the Rikers Island GreenHouse program by the Horticultural Society of New York, and Denver Botanic Gardens’ Chatfield Farms.

Additionally, the exhibit will showcase accessible gardening with beds of varying heights and designs to enable people of all abilities to garden. Features will include beds and planters for standing, sitting, and wheelchair use and a tool shed featuring adaptive and ergonomic tools.

Throughout Flourish: Inside and Out, the USBG will offer programs, workshops, lectures, tours, and cooking demonstrations to showcase and provide training on gardening at home and ways plants and nature can enrich daily life. The USBG is also working with the National Park Service (NPS) to share how their Find Your Park program can help visitors connect with nature in national parks, as well as collaborating on veteran-related horticulture programs with the NPS American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial adjacent to the USBG. Visit www.USBG.gov/Flourish to learn more about the exhibit and associated programs.

Text and image courtesy of the USBG.

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