From the mountains to the coast, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia invites participants to spring into exploration through activities showcasing Georgia’s natural resources at Georgia Questival on March 19.

The third year of this family-friendly festival will take place from 1-5 p.m. at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. Registration will be on-site; the cost is $5 per individual, $20 per family and children two and under are free. Free parking and shuttle service will be provided at the UGA Soccer/Softball Complex, 2330 S. Milledge Ave., in Athens.

With the opening of the Alice H. Richard’s Children’s Garden in 2019, the State Botanical Garden, a unit of UGA Public Service and Outreach, wanted to offer a spring festival that complements its fall festival, Insectival, which attracts thousands of visitors to the garden to celebrate and learn about the importance and diversity of insects.

“We wanted to offer another family festival since Insectival is so popular,” said Cora Keber, director of education.

Questival also represents the opening of programming in the children’s garden for the spring season. The children’s garden highlights Georgia’s natural history, and the festival is designed around that theme, so participants set out on their own adventure to learn more about Georgia.

Georgia Questival visitors check out the pitcher plant bog in the children’s garden.

“Georgia Questival is an opportunity to get out and explore Georgia with experts in different environmental fields,” Keber said.

This year, the festival is expanding to include the Visitor Center and Conservatory and the Heritage Garden, where participants will learn about heirloom plants and important crops in Georgia.

Keber said visitors will receive an adventure map, highlighting the stations with activities. After completing each activity, participants will receive a stamp on their map. Participants who complete all the activities will receive a treasure.

The festival will include performances, vendors, exhibitors and food trucks. Participating partners include the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Conservation Section, UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, the UGA Office of Service-Learning, Athens-Clarke County Water Conservation Office, the UGArden and more. All will have informative and fun exhibits.

Georgia Questival visitors in 2022 enjoy an exhibit about the bats of Georgia.

Emily Ferrall is a wildlife biologist for Georgia DNR and will be at Georgia Questival with information on the bats of Georgia and a game for children to learn what wildlife biologists do.

“By participating in Questival, we hope to increase public knowledge and understanding about the bats of Georgia, including species biology, background on the threats they face and how people can help with their conservation,” Ferrall said.

Georgia Questival is developed with help from students in the garden’s Learning by Leading™ (LxL@UGA) program. Learning by Leading™ is a mentorship program that allows participants to earn experiential learning credit, gain leadership skills and real-world experience in science, conservation, environmental education and horticulture.

“Working on the festival helps students understand community development and organization by helping develop and implement a community-wide program,” Keber said.

Gracey Throckmorton is a second-year student at UGA majoring in biology and has been involved in the LxL@UGA program for four semesters. This year, she will oversee the community corner at Questival and has reached out to local organizations to make connections and get them involved.

“LxL@UGA had impacted my time at UGA by providing a break from my classes and helping me to feel more confident in leadership positions,” Throckmorton said.

For more information about Georgia Questival and the garden’s Learning by Leading™ program, visit botgarden.uga.edu.

Writer: Laurel Clark,  Laurel.Clark@uga.edu

Contact: Cora Keber, ckeber@uga.edu

While many of the plants at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia are dormant during the winter, the garden’s annual light show, Winter WonderLights, continues to grow.

This year’s show, presented by the UGA Office of the President, marks the second year of Athens’ newest winter tradition. Lighted displays delighted children and adults on select evenings from Nov. 23, 2022, through Jan. 8, 2023.

The State Botanical Garden sold over 56,000 tickets to the show. Visitors to the show represented 132 Georgia counties and 45 states.

This year, the State Botanical Garden extended Winter WonderLights to include evenings around the Thanksgiving holiday. Winter WonderLights November Nights on Nov. 23, 25 and 27 welcomed over 2,300 visitors, many of whom were in town celebrating Thanksgiving with family.

Kayla Joyner from Athens attended Winter WonderLights on the opening night, the evening before Thanksgiving, with her family. She was excited that Winter WonderLights offered shows around Thanksgiving this year since many people have relatives in town.

“I think it’s a brilliant idea,” said Joyner. “We brought family from Florida, and they’re having a blast.”

More than 1,100 Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta patients and their families visited Winter WonderLights in December to enjoy s’mores, hot chocolate and the opportunity to be in a group of people like themselves.

This season’s Winter WonderLights featured two new light animals crafted by local artist Chris Taylor, and the number of lights increased from 1 million to an estimated 1.4 million.

The State Botanical Garden partnered with local businesses, including Koons Environmental Design and College Pro Landscaping, which designed and installed the show. Special light features were installed by Universal Concepts.

Locally owned by brothers Nick and Peter Dale, Condor Chocolates created a Winter WonderBar to coincide with the garden’s holiday light show. Condor Chocolates also sold over 17,000 cups of its delicious hot chocolate at two locations throughout Winter WonderLights.

An estimated 10 couples became engaged at Winter WonderLights this year. Cody Powell proposed to his fiancee, Megan Harris, in front of the 40-foot cone tree on Dec. 21. (Photo courtesy of Cody Powell)

An estimated 10 couples became engaged at Winter WonderLights this year. Cody Powell proposed to his fiancee, Megan Harris, in front of the 40-foot cone tree on Dec. 21.

Powell and Harris, both UGA students from Loganville, Ga., have been together for almost four years. Powell came to Winter WonderLights on Dec. 20 to scope out a good spot for the proposal.

“She said a few years ago she wanted a Christmas-themed proposal,” Powell said. “We had our senior prom pictures taken at the State Botanical Garden, and I thought it would be a great spot.”

After she said yes, the crowd around them clapped and cheered. They’re planning for a wedding in the summer of 2024.

Winter WonderLights wouldn’t be possible without the support of local volunteers who give their time during the busy end of the year. Scottie Henderson, Bonnie Jones and Lisa Davis are local to Athens and have been friends for 15 years. They enjoyed volunteering at the s’mores stations together.

“My favorite part is the interaction with the kids,” Henderson said. “It’s fun and festive and gets us doing something.”

Dedicated volunteers donated over 2,200 hours to help spread cheer at Winter WonderLights this year.

Dedicated volunteers donated over 2,200 hours to help spread cheer at Winter WonderLights this year.

Many local businesses sponsored this year’s show, which was presented by the University of Georgia Office of the President. Premium sponsors included Georgia Power and Athens Ford, the official dealership of Winter WonderLights. Other sponsors included Barron’s Rentals, Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center, The Frierson Parker Group – Merrill Lynch and members of the local community.

Proceeds from ticket sales, parking and merchandise will go back into the garden, supporting education, horticulture and conservation programs. Special events, like Winter WonderLights, annual festivals, classes, camps and special programs, help provide funding so that daily entrance to the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a UGA Public Service and Outreach unit, is free.

For more information about the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, visit botgarden.uga.edu.

Writer: Laurel Clark,  Laurel.Clark@uga.edu

Contact: Jenny Cruse-Sanders, crusesanders@uga.edu

With so many options available, it can be challenging to know what plants to add to your home garden that will look beautiful and help the environment. The State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia is helping gardeners by selecting four Georgia Pollinator Plants of the Year.

The program, a collaboration between the State Botanical Garden, UGA Extension and green industry partners, began in 2020. The program annually promotes four top-performing landscape plants that support pollinators. Plants are chosen for the following categories: spring bloomer, summer bloomer, fall bloomer and Georgia native.

The pollinator plant of the year program was designed to encourage the use of high-impact plants that support pollinators in private and commercial gardens. It is funded in part by the Vaughn-Jordan Foundation.

“Our audience has been very receptive to the program,” said Heather Alley, the garden’s conservation horticulturist. “These plants always sell beautifully at our plant sales. One of our partner growers has enjoyed highlighting these plants, and their customers are excited about them.”

The 2023 plants in the four categories of the program are:

Spring bloomer – Blue wild indigo

Baptisia australis

About: Blue wild indigo is a 4-foot-tall perennial wildflower in the pea family. In spring, this plant has tall spikes of eye-catching cobalt blue flowers.

Conservation value: Supports many native bees and other pollinators.

Summer bloomer – Wild bergamot

Monarda fistulosa

About: Wild bergamot is a perennial in the mint family that grows 4 to 5 feet tall, with long-lasting white, lavender or magenta summer blooms that attract many different pollinators.

Conservation value: Supports many native bees, hummingbirds and butterflies.

Fall bloomer – Aromatic aster

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium

About: Aromatic aster is a perennial wildflower in the sunflower family that grows 3 to 4 feet tall with purple flowers in the fall.

Conservation value: Supports many native bees, butterflies, hover flies and wasps.

Georgia native – Coastal plain Joe Pye weed

Eutrochium dubium

About: Coastal plain Joe Pye weed is a perennial wildflower in the sunflower family that grows 3 to 5 feet tall with profuse but tiny mauve flowers that bloom from July through September.

Conservation value: Supports bumble bees, small bees, hummingbirds and butterflies.

Alley said all the plants selected this year complement each other with cool, blue undertones. They are also easy to maintain.

The plants are nominated by gardeners, horticulturists, entomologists, ecologists and green industry professionals throughout Georgia and selected by a committee. The committee announces the plants a year in advance to give growers time to increase the stock of the plants for the public.

Becky Griffin is the community and school garden coordinator for UGA Extension and serves on the pollinator plants of the year committee. She is also the coordinator of the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, a citizen science project created by UGA designed for everyone to participate and make a difference in pollinator conservation.

Griffin said serving on the committee and talking about the nominated plants is a great way to get pollinator plants to the public. She also helps market the pollinator plants to people who want to start pollinator gardens and encourages those who wish to participate in the pollinator census to plant them in their home gardens.

“Planting plants that attract pollinators is a conservation action that we can all do,” said Griffin. “Research has shown that if you build the habitat, they will come. Planting pollinator plants directly impacts our pollinators, which are important for our food crops in Georgia.”

Griffin said you can add the pollinator plants of the year to your space, whether that’s a farm, subdivision or apartment complex.

Although new plants are selected each year, Alley said the goal is to continue promoting all the pollinator plants of the year selections over time. All the plants can work together for a beautiful collection of pollinator favorites that can be added to yearly.

The State Botanical Garden, a unit of UGA Public Service and Outreach, sells the pollinator plants of the year at its spring and fall plant sales and in the garden’s gift shop, and works with growers and retailers in Georgia to produce and market the plants.

For more information about the pollinator plants of the year program and a directory of native plant nurseries, visit https://t.uga.edu/649. For more information about the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, visit https://gsepc.org/.

Writer: Laurel Clark, Laurel.Clark@uga.edu

Contact: Heather Alley, alley@uga.edu

To see Philip Clementson racing across the State Botanical Garden from one glittering display to another you’d never know he began life with a critical congenital heart defect.

While still in utero, Philip was diagnosed with Dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries, in which the main pulmonary artery and the aorta are switched or transposed in position.

At 5 days old, and after surgeons at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta carefully considered their options, Philip had open heart surgery to move the arteries to their normal positions.

While Philip, now 20 months old, will always have to be aware of his condition, he’ll lead a normal active life.

“The doctor said “if he wants to play football, he can play football,” his mom, Laura Clementson, said as she steered an empty stroller and kept an eye on Philip. “I said, ‘No! I don’t want him to play football.’ ”

Philip and Laura Clementson were among more than 1,100 Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta patients and their families who made a group visit to the UGA State Botanical Garden in December to enjoy Winter WonderLights, s’mores, hot chocolate and the opportunity to be in a group of people like themselves.

The event, one of many that Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta arranges each year, is part of Kids at Heart, a hospital support program that provides opportunities for patients and families with heart or other congenital defects to get together socially and share experiences.

While support group meetings are held regularly at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the social events are held throughout the state and patients are from across the southeast. Previous events have included a trip to the Atlanta Zoo, the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Illuminations in Griffin. The visit to Winter WonderLights in Athens was the first fully open event they’ve held since before the pandemic, said Alison Mueller, a senior program coordinator for Heart Center Support Programs at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

“Despite their diagnoses they can still have fun as a family,” she said.

At the s’mores stations, families were busy roasting marshmallows to eat with their chocolate and graham crackers.

“How do I do this?” Joseph Gantt, 6, from Jefferson, Ga., asked.

“You want it burnt? Just leave it in the fire,” his sister said. “If it catches on fire, blow it out.”

The marshmallow was already on fire. Joseph pulled it from the flames and his sister blew it out. But Joseph immediately stuck the blackened marshmallow back in the fire, where it fell off, along with a piece of the stick.

“I have an extra one,” another of Joseph’s siblings said.

At one point the Chick-fil-A cows danced their way down Candy Cane Lane stopping for high fives, high hooves and hugs. Chick-fil-A provided financial support for the Winter WonderLights outing, along with the Michael P. Fisher Fund. Fisher was an Atlanta attorney who survived a heart defect as a child. After he died unexpectedly in a plane crash, his family and colleagues created the fund in his name to endow the Children’s Michael P. Fisher Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and support programs for children.

Families came to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta event in Athens from all across Georgia, some from other southeastern states. Some stayed overnight at the UGA Center for Continuing Education & Hotel, which offered them a discounted rate.

“UGA has been very accommodating,” Mueller said. “It’s important for these families to be together with people like themselves.”

The State Botanical Garden is a resource for the state and offers programs across Georgia as well as on the main UGA campus in Athens.

“With support from generous donors and the university over the past few years, we have worked to significantly increased access to our gardens, grounds and programming,” said Jenny Cruse-Sanders, director of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. “The event with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is an excellent example for how the garden can enrich lives and help families enjoy memorable experiences. We hope that Winter WonderLights will become an annual tradition for families across the region and help them to feel more connected to nature and to our beautiful botanical garden.”

Writer: Kelly Simmons, simmonsk@uga.edu
Contact: Jenny Cruse-Sanders, crusesanders@uga.edu

Thank you to everyone who supported our native plant sale this year! We are now SOLD OUT! Our remaining inventory of native honeysuckle, blueberries and native azaleas will be available in the garden gift shop this week while supplies last.

If you’re looking for more native plants to add to your garden, check out our recommended native plant nurseries list: https://t.uga.edu/8tS.

For the second year, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia will transform into a sparkling wonderland of lights this winter.

Winter WonderLights, presented by the UGA Office of the President, takes visitors along a trail of sparkling animals, including a couple of new ones, a Garden of Delights, a Cone Tree Plaza, and a re-envisioned Candy Cane Lane among other magical features.

The show will run on select evenings from Nov. 23, 2022, through Jan. 8, 2023. The Alice Hand Callaway Visitor’s Center will be transformed into a holiday market, where guests can shop for gifts and souvenirs, including a chocolate Winter WonderBar created specially for the light show by Condor Chocolates in Athens. Cookies, s’mores, Condor hot chocolate and coffee will be available for purchase throughout the light show.

“We are thrilled to offer Winter WonderLights for the second year beginning this November,” said Jenny Cruse-Sanders, State Botanical Garden director. “Our focus is to connect people to places and nature, and we are committed to being a leader in botanical education, horticulture, research and conservation. Winter WonderLights allows us to show off our world-class botanical garden and generate support for our impactful programs.”

Krislyn Johnson and her 6-year-old daughter, River, enjoy hot chocolate at Winter WonderLights.

The half-mile trail will take 45-60 minutes to complete and is fully ADA accessible. Tickets are $15 per person and free for children three and under. Members of Friends of the Garden will receive a 10 percent discount, as will groups of 20 or more people.

Tickets for designated dates and times to visit the show are available now at wonderlights.uga.edu.

The Athens Banner-Herald recently named Winter WonderLights the best local event in Athens in its Best of the Best Awards. The show attracted over 45,000 visitors last year.

The show is presented by the University of Georgia Office of the President. Premium sponsors are Georgia Power and Athens Ford, the official dealership of Winter WonderLights. Other sponsors include Barron’s Rentals, Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center and members of the local community.

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia is located approximately 70 miles east of Atlanta, at 2450 S. Milledge Ave., Athens, Ga. Free off-site parking and shuttle services will be provided in two UGA-owned and controlled lots off South Milledge Avenue. Paid parking at the garden is available for a limited number of vehicles and must be purchased when you buy tickets to the show.

Contact: garden@uga.edu

About the State Botanical Garden of Georgia:

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a unit of UGA Public Service and Outreach, is one of the state’s most treasured resources. With 313 acres of natural areas and cultivated gardens, the State Botanical Garden offers unique experiences for nature lovers. The garden offers eight specialty gardens, including the Alice H. Richards Children’s Garden, and over five miles of trails within an Audubon-designated important birding area. Throughout the year, the garden hosts educational programming, including camps, classes, workshops, concerts and festivals for visitors of all ages. Facilities across the garden feature art exhibits and annual lectures, including the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum.

The garden is also the headquarters for the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, a network of more than 50 institutions, agencies and organizations committed to ecological land management, native plant conservation, and protection of rare and endangered plants.

At UGA’s Georgia Mountain Research and Education Center, adult students study bees under a microscope, build bee houses and tour the center’s ethnobotanical garden.

It’s all part of the Bee-utiful World of Native Bees course, an elective in the curricula for the State Botanical Garden of Georgia’s Certificate in Native Plants program. Offering the course at locations throughout the state, like this one in Blairsville, Ga., is an attempt to educate more Georgians about the importance of native plants and pollinators.

“Participants can do their volunteer hours anywhere within the state as long as there is a native plant focus to their project,” said Cora Keber, education director at the UGA State Botanical Garden of Georgia.

The Certificate in Native Plants program began as an adult education program at the State Botanical Garden in Athens in 2007 as a way to connect volunteers with native plant conservation and restoration projects.

To earn the certificate, students must complete four core classes in basic botany, plant taxonomy, natural communities of Georgia and plant conservation. Students also have to take six elective courses and complete 16 volunteer hours and two field trips. The program takes about one year to complete but is designed for students to work at their own pace.

Core courses are taught virtually, but electives—like the Bee-utiful World of Native Bees— are offered in different regions of the state.

“The state of Georgia is diverse in plant species,” Keber explained. “What we have here in Athens is not around the state and vice versa, so offering electives in various parts of the state creates that plant diversity connection to particular locations.”

Garden partners teach the elective courses. This year, courses are scheduled at the Georgia Mountain Research and Education Center, the Gaskins Forest Education Center about 20 miles east of Tifton, Ga., and the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell, Ga., just north of Atlanta.

“It’s great that they’re branching out and having classes around the state so people can see varying ecosystems of native plants,” said Becky Griffin, community and school garden coordinator for UGA Extension in Blairsville, Ga., who led the native bee elective course.

Participants in Griffin’s course included Beth Thornton, who teaches zoology at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton.

Beth Thornton looks at a bumblebee under a microscope during “The Bee-utiful World of Native Bees” class in Blairsville, Ga.

“I am very interested in bees,” Thornton said. “When I was a student at UGA, I took a honey bee biology class, and I wanted to go into raising honey bees.”

She didn’t have the opportunity to raise bees while raising her family, Thornton said, but now that her children are grown, she has resumed learning about bees. The Bee-utiful World of Native Bees was the last course she needed to fulfill her Certificate in Native Plants requirements.

The bee course was the first one for Helen Bailey, from Gainesville, Ga. After working in health care for more than 30 years, Bailey decided to pursue the native plants certificate.

“I’ve always loved nature, and I’ve recently been very concerned about the environment,’’ said Bailey, who is creating her own pollinator garden to support native bees.

For more information or to register for the program, visit botgarden.uga.edu.

Writer: Laurel Clark, laurel.clark@uga.edu

Contact: Cora Keber, ckeber@uga.edu

Spring, summer and fall, it’s easy to select the best plants to draw pollinators to your yard. Just look for the Georgia Pollinator Plants of the Year label at Georgia nurseries and at the State Botanical Garden gift shop.

The plants are nominated by gardeners, horticulturists, entomologists, ecologists and green industry professionals throughout Georgia, and selected by a committee. The committee announces the plants a year in advance to give growers time to increase the stock of the plants for the public.

The pollinator plant program began in 2020 and has been successful among State Botanical garden supporters, said Heather Alley, the garden’s conservation horticulturist.

“They have been excited about the program and have purchased the selected plants,” Alley said. “We’ve seen high demand for the plants at our spring and fall plant sales.”

The program was designed to encourage the use of high-impact plants that support pollinators in private and commercial gardens. It is funded in part by the Vaughn-Jordan Foundation.

The 2022 plants, in the four categories of the program are:

Spring bloomer – Carolina lupine

Thermopsis villosa

About: Carolina lupine is a 4-foot-tall perennial wildflower in the pea family. In spring, this plant has tall spikes of eye-catching canary yellow flowers.

Growing conditions: Prefers full to part sun in well-drained garden soil with average to high moisture.

Conservation value: Supports many native bees and other pollinators.

Summer bloomer – Mountain mints

Pycnanthemum species: Pycnanthemum incanum, P. flexuosum, P. muticum, P. tenuifolium, P. virginianum

About: Each of the selected mountain mints are 3- to 4- feet-tall, with long-lasting white summer blooms that attract many different pollinators.

Conservation value: Supports many native bees, wasps and butterflies.

Fall bloomer – Blue mist

Conoclinum coelestinum

About: Blue mist is a perennial wildflower in the sunflower family that grows 3- to 4-feet-tall with bright blue flowers from late summer into fall.

Growing conditions: Prefers full to part sun in well-drained to average garden soil with high to low moisture.

Conservation value: Supports many native bees, including leafcutter bees and butterflies.

Georgia native – Coral honeysuckle

Lonicera sempervirens

About: Coral honeysuckle is a perennial blooming vine with woody twining stems that bloom with tubular red and yellow flowers throughout much of the year.

Conservation value: Supports bumble bees, small bees, hummingbirds and butterflies. The leaves support the larval stage of clearwing moths and azure butterflies. Finches, thrushes and robins feed on the fruits in winter.

All of the 2022 pollinator plants of the year are native to Georgia, suited to Georgia’s climate and soils, and are attractive garden plants.

“The Georgia Pollinator Plants of the Year program is a great way for Georgians to introduce pollinator plants into their home gardens,” said Jenny Cruse-Sanders, director of the UGA State Botanical Garden of Georgia. “This year’s selected plants are beautiful, and the support they provide pollinators is critical.”

Pollinator conservation has become increasingly popular over the last five years, and people want to help support pollinators, Alley said. But it can be difficult to know what to do.

“It’s hard to know what plants to choose when there are so many options,” she said. “This program helps Georgia gardeners make fantastic plant choices.”

Drew Watkins is a managing partner of Frank A. Smith Nurseries in Stone Mountain, Ga., and serves on the Georgia Pollinator Plants of the Year selection committee. The nursery primarily sells to the wholesale industry and grows all the selected pollinator plants.

Watkins, a UGA graduate, said the nursery has been producing the pollinator plants since the program started, and they can’t keep them in stock. He said landscapers and designers planting perennial borders want pollinator plants as part of their design.

“The program benefits Georgians by sparking an interest in learning about the value and critical importance of pollination,” Watkins says. “Most of our food crops are dependent on pollination.”

The selected plants provide pollinator services, which are essential to our environment. Pollinators are necessary to produce over 85 percent of the world’s flowering plants, including more than two-thirds of the world’s crop species, according to the Xerces Society.

The State Botanical Garden, a unit of UGA Public Service and Outreach, sells the pollinator plants of the year at its spring and fall plant sales, in the garden’s gift shop and works with growers and retailers in Georgia to produce and market the plants.

For more information about the pollinator plants of the year program and to find a directory of native plant nurseries, visit https://t.uga.edu/649.

For Clarke County School District students, getting back to normal means going back to UGA for annual field trips.

In the fall, a group of pre-Kindergarten students were the first Clarke County School District (CCSD) students on campus for a school trip since early 2020. Their visit to the UGA State Botanical Garden of Georgia included collecting acorns from the woods and learning how squirrels store them to eat during the cold winter months.

The activities at the garden were related to the five senses, something the students would study in the pre-K curriculum this year. They wandered the Hummingbird Trail, looking for birds, matched color cards with the colors of plants in the garden and enjoyed a puppet show.

“With the pandemic, the students have been limited to the classroom, so it’s beneficial for them to leave the school and do something new,” said Caroline Joseph, who teaches pre-K at Whit Davis Elementary School. “They love puppets and will remember the characters.”

Students learn about the senses through exploration at the State Botanical Garden.

Experience UGA began in 2013 through a partnership between UGA and the CCSD. Facilitated by the Office of Service-Learning, a UGA Public Service and Outreach unit, the program’s objective was to introduce even the youngest students to learning on a college campus and meeting UGA students. The program grew gradually each year with the full CCSD student body, almost 12,000 students, visiting UGA in 2018-19.

“For most students, this is the first field trip of their life,” said Audrey Stadler, children’s education coordinator at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. “Some may never have been to the garden or had access to nature, and they get to meet new people and experience new things.”

The Office of Service-Learning received more than $10,000 this spring from the UGA Parents Leadership Council (PLC) to help defray the costs of running Experience UGA. Since 2017 the PLC has been a loyal supporter of Experience UGA by contributing to both the transportation of CCSD students to UGA’s campus as well as the Experience UGA Ambassador Leadership Program. The Ambassador Leadership Program trains UGA students to become service leaders at the university and later in their careers.

Exerience UGA and in-person CCSD classes stopped in mid-March 2020, as cases of COVID-19 continued to increase in Georgia and around the world. The 2020-21 school year began with students learning remotely, returning to the classroom in November. There were intermittent closures through spring 2021 as cases rose and fell. During that time, UGA students, faculty and staff created online content to continue the field trips, remotely.

With the snip of a red ribbon, a cheer and a lot of smiles, State Botanical Garden of Georgia donors, faculty and staff watched as UGA leaders officially dedicated the garden’s newest additions: the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum, Discovery and Inspiration Garden, and accessible main entrance.

“The new facilities and gardens are transformative,” said Jenny Cruse-Sanders, garden director. “They increase accessibility, provide for an enhanced experience at the garden and will attract new audiences to the garden and UGA. Each also helps guide us in understanding the important role that nature plays in our lives.”

The museum was a longtime dream of donor Deen Day Sanders, who donated her 50-year collection of porcelain and art from around the world to the garden.

“The university remains deeply grateful for Mrs. Sanders’ vision, determination and the help that she provided in getting others to contribute to this important project,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “Her efforts extended beyond the museum itself as she thoughtfully considered the area surrounding it and how we were going to make the museum and garden accessible for so many others.”

The pieces on display in the museum highlight how art is inspired by flowers, butterflies, birds and all aspects of nature. The two-story building includes beautiful gallery spaces as well as a large classroom that opens onto the display gardens to enrich the learning experience.

Located on a hill behind the museum, the accessible entrance includes an elevator from the parking lots.

The Discovery and Inspiration Garden surrounds and extends beyond the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum, inviting visitors of all ages to explore and discover.

Narrow beds of plants at the eye level of every visitor invite close viewing, and a pond supports a range of fauna, including frogs and dragonflies. The Discovery and Inspiration Garden features native plants for pollinators and educates visitors about the interrelationships between birds, insects and plants. The garden also includes a lawn where outdoor classes and events can be held.

“These projects represent a significant milestone in the garden’s history,” said Jennifer Frum, vice president for UGA Public Service and Outreach, which oversees the garden. “They will, no doubt, open many educational opportunities for faculty and students and citizens from across Georgia.”

Deen Day Sanders gives remarks at the dedication of the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum, Discovery and Inspiration Garden, and accessible main entrance.

Donors to the accessible entrance project included Deen Day Sanders and the Day family, the Callaway Foundation, James B. Miller Jr., Mike and Betty DeVore, Tom B. Wight, The Garden Club of Georgia Inc. and donors from across Georgia. Chuck and Suzanne Murphy provided support for the Discovery and Inspiration Garden.

“Today is a day of jubilation,” Deen Day Sanders said. “I can say that I’m grateful to all those who made it happen. It wasn’t about the vision, but the completion of the museum for the garden and to have it open to the public, for people to come to see it and enjoy it.”

The Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Sunday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. For more information about the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, visit botgarden.uga.edu.

Learn more about the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum at https://botgarden.uga.edu/uga-brings-art-and-nature-together-at-the-state-botanical-garden-of-georgia/.