The United States has dozens of public botanical gardens, featuring stunning manicured flower beds, native forests, pristine meadows, and other wonderful habitats. While millions of visitors enjoy these gardens each year to see the plants, many will miss out on the wide range of classes at botanic gardens and special events.
I’m hoping to broaden your view of what botanical gardens can be, using two of my favorites, which I’ve had memberships with for over 20 years. Both gardens go way beyond providing manicured trails, flowers, and shrubs — so, let me give point out great reasons to visit.
Playful Topiary
Harvey Ladew started Ladew Topiary Gardens near Jarrettsville, Maryland. He was a wealthy bachelor with a love of formal gardens and topiary. He bought the property in the 1920s to be near Maryland’s fox-hunting culture. After he got his home modifications under control, he set his sights on creating the fantastic topiary gardens visitors can see today.
Shortly after arriving at Ladew, visitors see Mr. Ladew’s version of a fox hunt in topiary art form. A horse and rider carved out of boxwoods jump a hedgerow gate following his hounds on the trail of a fox. Harvey Ladew left the gardens and main house for future generations to enjoy. With 250 acres and tons of other reasons to visit, it’s easy to see why Ladew Topiary Gardens are so famous.
Variety of Classes
An impressive offering of educational courses caters to adults, families, and children. I’ve attended Ladew’s classes on mushroom foraging, planting a classic Mid-Atlantic cottage garden, and planning a pollinator garden. Other classes on offer include “Three Centuries of Birds,” “The Secret Life of Wildflowers,” and “Bunny Mellon Creates her Stairway to Paradise.”
Art was important to Harvey Ladew, and the Artist-in-Residency program honors that legacy. Visitors can sign up on Ladew’s website for workshops with the artists to learn a variety of skills. This year’s resident artists are Annie Howe, a multimedia paper-cut artist from Baltimore and Reed Bmore, a talented wire sculpture artist.
Ladew’s Wellness in the Gardens is a 6-week program helping participants learn ways to relieve stress. Instructor Heidi Schreiber-Pan utilizes nature to teach guided relaxation, forest bathing, breathing exercises, and other modalities to achieve better mental and physical health. Most classes and events are held on the grounds of Ladew Gardens, but some classes can be viewed remotely.
I recently attended the pollinator garden class online (part of the Spring Lecture Series) and found it easy to follow along and ask questions when needed. Many of the events and classes sell out. By subscribing to the Ladew Gardens newsletter email list, you’ll have the best chance of securing a spot.
Light-Up Festivities
Family events like Garden Glow in late October thrill families with over 800 carved pumpkins. The gardens are aglow with other light features, live entertainment, food trucks, and sculptures. Visitors can watch a professional artist carve pumpkins to get ideas to do at home.
Maple Syruping
The Maple Magic event takes visitors through the stages of making maple syrup, from observing tapped trees, boiling down the sap, and making maple treats.
Classes at Botanic Gardens for Children
Children love events like the Little Explorers Nature Preschool Program. This program is open to children ages 2 to 6 when accompanied by an adult. The Art in Nature Camp accepts 9- to 12-year-olds, and children create art using various materials to make paintings, sculptures, prints, and other art forms. Events for homeschooled children and public-school children teach them about the wonders of the natural world and gardening.
Visitors can observe Ladew’s native meadow, where birds and pollinators thrive and a butterfly pavilion in summer. The Nature Walk has a trail where visitors might see a vernal pool where amphibians gather, waterfowl in the floating wetlands, and possibly a harmless rat snake.
Denver Botanic Gardens
I had lived in the Denver area during my childhood, and my wife lived in Denver since the 1990s. I remember school field trips to the Gardens in the 1960s and visiting later with my parents. While researching this article, it came as a surprise to me just how much is offered at Denver Botanic Gardens. While my wife and I loved the summer concert series and wandering the York Street gardens, we were not aware of all the classes and events on offer.
Diverse Programming
On its website, Denver Botanic Gardens has an Education and Programs page that lists the major types of programs. You can attend adult programs, a School of Botanical Art & Illustration, children and family programs, schools and teachers programs, Helen Fowler Library programs, and last but not least, a Water-Wise Resources page.
Following the adult programs link led me to 70 programs, including “Gardening for Insects” (beneficial ones), “Growing Food at High Altitudes,” “Handmade Paper from Foraged Mushrooms,” and “Invitation to Ikebana” (Japanese flower arranging). I sat in on the online Horticulture II session. I learned eco-friendly ways to control Japanese beetles, what kind of herbicides homeowners can buy, how to diagnose plant ailments, and more.
The Certificate Programs page highlights courses like “Amazing Vegetables from A-Z,” “Converting Lawn to Xeriscape,” “Crops in Pots,” “Passive Solar Greenhouse Growing,” and a full-blown Rocky Mountain Gardening Certificate Series online course that runs from January to June.
For the Artist
For over 40 years, Denver Botanic Gardens has offered art courses. You can find classes online or in person that teach drypoint intaglio printmaking, creating a fabric-covered book in a traditional Mexican style, woodcut printing of botanicals and bees, French beading flowers, zoological illustration, and some 40 other offerings.
Denver Botanic Gardens’ Farm and Prairie Properties
Denver Botanic Gardens has three distinctive properties to visit. I had only been to the York Street location but recently got to see Denver Botanic Gardens farm at Chatfield Farms, which boasts 700 acres. This working farm is a native plant refuge on the banks of Deer Creek in the foothills of the Front Range.
One of the most impressive programs at Denver Botanic Gardens, Chatfield Farms is the Veteran’s Farm Program. Veterans are given farming education and jobs working the farm’s fertile fields. Some of the farm’s produce is sold through their CSA (community supported agriculture). Some of the other educational programs at the farm, includes “Nature Journaling for Homeschoolers,” “Edible Wild Foods Workshop,” “Farm Camp Week 1: Wonders of Wildlife,” and a Lavender Festival with a make-and-take shower bundle.
A prairie location, Plains Conservation Center, is near Aurora and highlights the shortgrass prairie ecosystem. The Sunset Wagon Tour sounds like a great way to learn about this prairie environment close to Denver.
You might not live close to either of the above gardens, but if there’s not a similar botanical garden near you, take heart that many of the classes at botanic gardens listed here are available online. Even if you don’t want to take classes, please support your local botanic gardens, as they are a haven for nature and learning.
Kurt Jacobson writes about travel, food, wine, organic gardening, and most anything else from his varied professional life. His articles appear in Alaska magazine, Fish Alaska magazine, Metropolis Japan magazine, Edible Delmarva magazine, North West Travel and Life magazine, and MOTHER EARTH NEWS. Kurt lives in the Baltimore, Md., area with his wife, dog and cats. Kurt’s articles also appear on several websites, such as: Trip101.com, MotherEarthNews.com, AdventuressTraveler.com, and several others. Kurt is a regular contributor to GoNomad.com writing about Alaska, Colorado, New Zealand, Japan, and the Mid-Atlantic areas.
