After months and months of staying home or minimizing contact with other people, it’s possible that we’ll all feel a little hesitant once the COVID-19 vaccine makes it possible to be around others. Yew Dell Botanical Gardens in Crestwood, Kentucky has a garden adoption program that is perfect for individuals who want to get outside, be around a few other people, and have a desire to learn about gardens.
“We have a wonderful group of volunteers who adopt gardens at Yew Dell and maintain them throughout the year. They’re most active from March to October, and they work very closely with our garden and arboretum manager,” Yew Dell marketing and PR manager Lindsay Duncan says. People who love to learn find this program to be one that fulfills them both socially and intellectually.
The trial and evaluation gardens at Yew Dell is just one fascinating space that needs to be adopted at Yew Dell. “We don’t only have plants in our collection like a museum would have works of art. We also create plants here; we propagate them and sell them through our online plant market,” director of development and external relations Aimee Conrad-Hill says. “We just installed two plant trial and evaluation areas so we can bring that aspect more to the forefront with visitors.” With woody plants and herbaceous perennials, these gardens will be maintained and observed for three to five years to see which ones do best under various conditions. “We’re working on a way that visitors can help us evaluate those,” she adds.
For those individuals who aren’t quite ready to be around others but still want to engage their brains, Yew Dell has increased its virtual garden workshop offerings to meet people no matter their level of comfort. The spring Yew Dell calendar of events includes informative virtual workshops on bonsai, body movement while gardening, and pruning with more being added each month.
By Carrie Vittitoe | Photos submitted
P.S. Read how a life-long love of animals led to a volunteer position at the zoo.
Leave a Reply