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Brooklyn Botanic Garden 2006 Annual Report
Continuing Education
The Garden's Continuing Education department offered 167 classes and day trips and served 2,100 participants. New classes added this year included two popular series: Pruning Techniques, focusing on how and when to prune plants with special pruning needs; and Seasonally Inspired Floral Design, courses in how to incorporate into floral designs the unique colors, textures, and materials of each season. Other new offerings included our first-ever hardscaping class, Building Stone Walls, as well as new gardening and floral design classes such as the popular Nonstop Bloomers for Show-Stopping Containers and Edible Centerpieces. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Alice Recknagel Ireys Fragrance Garden, special classes including Gardening for Fragrance, Fragrant Indoor Plants, Growing Garlic, Finding Fragrant Roses, Body Preparations, and Growing Fragrant Culinary Herbs were offered to complement an interactive summer stroll highlighting fragrant plants throughout BBG.
BBG's staff arborist instructs a group of Citizen Pruners in how to care for the street trees of NYC.
In January, the 2006 Student and Art Teacher Art Exhibition and Sale showcased work produced in BBG art classes. Fifty-four pieces were submitted, and seven of these were sold—a record number for the annual exhibit.
For the fifth year, BBG provided NYC Department of Parks and Recreation gardening staff with vital horticultural training. The 20 gardeners who participated in this in-depth training program received instruction in various areas of urban horticulture, including soil management, urban tree and shrub care, and flower-gardening basics. NYC Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe hosted a festive graduation ceremony at Fort Tryon Park.
BBG director emeritus Elizabeth Scholtz continued to inspire and inform tour participants in the Garden's Botanical Adventures travel program. This year's participants ventured to South Africa, Elizabeth's home country, to see its magnificent gardens, wildflowers, and wildlife. Local trips included visits to the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival, the Philadelphia Flower Show, and Private Gardens of the Hamptons.
BBG is halfway through a three-year project to evaluate and update interpretive practices, which has received leadership support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services Museums for America program. In February, BBG completed its much-anticipated Interpretive Master Plan, and the Interpretation Committee selected the Tropical Pavilion of the Steinhardt Conservatory as the site for a prototype project using the ideas and framework suggested in the plan. This past spring, BBG worked with Mary Kay Cunningham, a noted interpretive trainer, to develop and deliver workshops in interpretive techniques tailored to the needs of staff and volunteers. Work with the Interpretive Master Plan continues and will be instrumental in developing and refining the Garden's future projects and furthering our core theme that plants are essential to life.