The State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia opened the third season of Winter WonderLights on Nov. 22, unveiling the show’s new design.

Winter WonderLights, presented by the UGA Office of the President, was reimagined this year with new and exciting light displays. Visitors to the show travel through a Winter Wondercave, along Jingle Bell Lane, into the Northern Lights and through a Frosted Forest, among other dazzling features.

Over 8,700 guests attended the show on opening weekend, which included the night before Thanksgiving.

Toshia Dunbrack from Elberton attended the show for the first time this year, bringing along her sister, sister-in-law and niece, who enjoyed dinner in Athens before the show.

Dunbrack said they wanted to enjoy the show before they get too busy in December. Her favorite part of the show was the Cone Tree Forest, but her group also enjoyed the Snowy Night section, with all the snowflakes hanging in the trees.

Visitors stroll through the Alice H. Richards Children’s Garden, which has been reimagined this year as Jingle Bell Lane.

“Everyone ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ over the snowflakes in the trees,” she said.

Winter WonderLights will run on select evenings through Dec. 30. The Alice Hand Callaway Visitor’s Center has been transformed into a holiday market, where guests can shop for gifts and souvenirs, including a chocolate Winter WonderBar created especially for the light show by Condor Chocolates in Athens. S’mores, Condor hot chocolate and beverages are available for purchase throughout the light show.

Tickets are $15 per person and free for children 3 and under. Friends of the Garden members will receive a 10% discount, as will groups of 20 or more people. Tickets must be purchased online.

The Athens Banner-Herald named Winter WonderLights the best local event in Athens in its Community’s Choice Awards the past two years. The show attracted over 56,000 visitors last year.

Winter WonderLights volunteer Mark Allen takes a photo of a couple visiting the show on opening night.

Winter WonderLights is made possible by volunteers who donate their time to ensure visitors have a great experience. One of these volunteers, Mark Allen, has volunteered at Winter WonderLights since the show began in 2021.

“I think it’s such a magical time,” said Allen. “Everyone’s happy and smiling and pleasant; there’s an uplifting spirit to the whole event. The best is seeing the faces of the children who are enjoying it.”

The show’s presenting sponsor is the University of Georgia Office of the President. Title sponsorship is provided by Athens Ford and Barron’s Rental Center. Premium sponsorship is provided by Georgia Power. Other sponsors include Piedmont Athens Regional, The Frierson Parker Group – Merrill Lynch and valued 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, Georgia. Free off-site parking and shuttle services will be provided in a UGA-owned and controlled lot 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. Ticket sales support the conservation and outreach work of the garden.

The garden will also offer a special event for the new year, WonderLights Disco Nights, on Jan. 4-7, 2024. Disco Nights will allow visitors to experience the light show while grooving to disco hits. Ticket prices and entry times will be the same as Winter WonderLights, and tickets are on sale now.

For more information about Winter WonderLights and to purchase tickets, visit wonderlights.uga.edu.

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

Contact: garden@uga.edu

For the third straight year, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia will transform into a sparkling wonderland of lights this winter. Tickets are now available at wonderlights.uga.edu.

Winter WonderLights, presented by the UGA Office of the President, is being reimagined this year with new and exciting light displays. Visitors will travel through a Winter Wondercave, along Jingle Bell Lane, into the Northern Lights and through a Frosted Forest, among other dazzling features.

The show will run on select evenings from Nov. 22 through Dec. 30. 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. S’mores, Condor hot chocolate and coffee will be available for purchase throughout the light show.

Winter WonderLights at the State Botanical Garden at UGA is being reimagined this year with new and exciting light displays.

“Winter WonderLights allows us to showcase how beautiful the State Botanical Garden is in winter and generate support for our impactful programs,” said Jenny Cruse-Sanders, State Botanical Garden director. “We are so delighted to begin the show in November and introduce WonderLights Disco Nights at the beginning of the new year. I hope these additions allow more people to experience the garden as it sparkles at night during the winter season.”

The half-mile trail will take approximately 45-60 minutes to complete and is fully accessible. Tickets are $15 per person and free for children 3 and under. Friends of the Garden members will receive a 10% discount, as will groups of 20 or more people. Tickets must be purchased ahead of time online.

The Athens Banner-Herald recently named Winter WonderLights the best local event in Athens in its Community’s Choice Awards for the second year in a row. The show attracted over 56,000 visitors last year.

The show is presented by the University of Georgia Office of the President. Title sponsorship is provided by Athens Ford and Barron’s Rental Center. Other sponsors include Piedmont Athens Regional, The Frierson Parker Group – Merrill Lynch and valued 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 a UGA-owned and controlled lot 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. Ticket sales support the conservation and outreach work of the garden.

The Alice Hand Callaway Visitor’s Center will be transformed into a holiday market where guests can shop for gifts and souvenirs.

The garden will also offer a special event for the new year, WonderLights Disco Nights, on Jan. 4-7, 2024. Disco Nights will allow visitors to experience the light show trail while grooving to disco hits. Ticket prices and entry times will be the same as Winter WonderLights, and tickets are on sale now.

Writer: Laurel Clark, laurel.clark@uga.edu
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 323 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.

In June and July at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia, summer campers hike the trails, learn about pollinators, build shelters and cook with fresh produce from the garden.

The State Botanical Garden, a unit of Public Service and Outreach at UGA, hosts six week-long summer camps, all with a different theme that help children ages 5-10 inspire fun and connect with nature.

Camp themes range from Aquatic Adventurers, where campers learn what they can do to keep our water clean, to Bee Smart, Eat Smart, where campers learn the connection between nature and the foods we eat.

The State Botanical Garden at UGA welcomed 262 campers this summer, with almost every camp session full.

Sam Anderson, age 9, attended the last week of camp, where he caught critters in the stream and learned about habitats through shelter building.

Jude Forehand, age 8, looks for critters in the stream at the State Botanical Garden at UGA.

Sam said his favorite part about camp is the friends he’s met.

Nature camps at the garden are accessible for children who are already interested in nature and those who may not have spent much time outdoors.

“We have a lot of campers who are already interested in the outdoors, nature and conservation, and that’s great because we can do things they already love,” said Audrey Mitchell, children’s education coordinator. “We also have campers who have never played in the woods and may not be comfortable in the outdoors or know much about the environment, so it’s wonderful to encourage that interest and confidence with them.”

Courtney Pittman lives in Bishop and has been sending her two children, Tripp, age 9, and Townes, age 6, to camp for a couple of years. Pittman heard about how summer camp at the garden was a great program and signed Tripp up when he was old enough to attend.

“They come back and are always so happy,” said Pittman. “I love that they come back with knowledge of nature about critters or plants. In this day in age, with everything based in technology, it’s important for them to be in nature and learn to be stewards of the environment.”

Counselors for nature camp at the State Botanical Garden at UGA are either college students or recent college graduates pursuing a degree in a related field such as environmental science or education. High school students also have the opportunity to gain leadership skills by volunteering at camp as junior counselors.

MaKenzie Leatherwood has been a camp counselor for two years and recently graduated with a degree in ecology from UGA. She said camp allowed her to use the skills and knowledge she’s learned in her classes.

Summer campers learn about the Middle Oconee River from the Athens Clarke-County Water Conservation Office.

“What I learned in class played so much into what I was teaching the kids, and I got to share my experiences with them,” Leatherwood said. “Now that I’ve had this experience of teaching them, I’ve learned that I enjoy sharing this passion with other people.”

After being a camper for several years, Claire Bruner served as a junior counselor this year. She will begin her sophomore year at Clarke Central High School this fall.

“When I was a camper, I loved my junior counselors,” said Bruner. “By volunteering as a junior counselor, I still get to be at camp, and working with the kids is fun.”

As part of its summer camp programming, the garden hosts a UGA Center for Continuing Education & Hotel camp about environmental sciences for middle schoolers one week out of the summer. The garden also hosts Sweet Pea Camp, planned especially for young nature lovers, ages 3-4, and their parent or other adult helper, offering an introduction to the natural world.

Partners that participated in programming during summer camp included archeological firm New South Associates, Athens Clarke-County Water Conservation Office and Campus Kitchen at UGA.

For more information about the State Botanical Garden at UGA and the garden’s educational programs, visit botgarden.uga.edu.

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

Contact: Audrey Mitchell, astadler@uga.edu

Georgia used to be home to expanses of open areas within forests with wildflowers and grassland species, but now, these grasslands have all but disappeared.

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia has conservation efforts in place to help preserve and repopulate these native species. Now, efforts are underway to encourage community members around the state to help track remaining existing wild populations to aid in conservation using iNaturalist, a digital app that allows everyone to upload photos. The iNaturalist application identifies plants and animals and tracks them to help guide conservation work.

Will Rogers, conservation research professional at the State Botanical Garden at UGA, is coordinating efforts to support the Georgia Grasslands Initiative project to identify existing populations by using iNaturalist.

It was theorized that before European settlement, the southeast part of the U.S. had more widely spaced trees and grassland areas. Rogers said sun-loving plant populations that used to exist in these areas are now clinging onto the roadsides and utility rights of way, or anywhere it’s sunny.

Pictured is Butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa.

Bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife depend on these plants for survival. For example, one of the declining sun-loving genera, Asclepias, or milkweed, is the primary larval host for Monarch caterpillars, an at-risk species.

The project aims to get an inventory of the plants on public lands to help guide conservation and restoration efforts, and the public can help.

“Partnerships are critical to managing natural resources,” said Joanne Baggs, an ecologist with the USDA Forest Service. “The partnership with the State Botanical Garden of Georgia has leveraged community science to collect information on high-quality habitats and engage many different groups that are participating in natural resource management.

“This information can be used to identify and manage high-quality grasslands and unique habitats and assist in the development of plant material for restoration.”

Rogers said the iNaturalist project generates a lot of data, some that can be used immediately and some that will be utilized in the future.

So far, the project has over 130 members who have made over 28,000 observations about nearly 2,300 different species.

The top producing project member, Sarah Kelsey, whose iNaturalist username is “botanylicious,” has contributed nearly 6,700 observations.

Kelsey, a disability civil rights lawyer in Atlanta, has been active on iNaturalist for about five years and started posting more observations during the pandemic.

“It was something I could do that was safe,” Kelsey said. “My job is high-stress. I see people going through terrible things, and there’s only so much I have the power to change. iNaturalist helps me de-stress and find some joy.”

“iNaturalist is a great way to learn,” Kelsey said. “It gives you a lot of suggestions. People who aren’t plant experts find important things all the time.”

Will Rogers, conservation research professional at the State Botanical Garden at UGA, has been working on the Georgia Grasslands Initiative project using iNaturalist since 2021.

All you need to participate is a smartphone, visit public lands in Georgia, and take high-quality close-up photos of the sun-loving plants you see. iNaturalist will identify the plant for you.

Rogers has traveled across the state, sharing with groups about the critical conservation work of the State Botanical Garden at UGA and demonstrating how to use iNaturalist to contribute to conservation efforts.

“The State Botanical Garden has taken significant steps to advance our knowledge of native plants in the southeast, and Will Rogers has been at the forefront of this important collaboration. We all have benefitted from Will’s work,” said Duke Rankin, USDA Forest Service Threatened and Endangered Species program manager.

Rogers said the project was built to be inclusive for all Georgians. Hikers, bikers, birders, fishermen, college students and all people from across the state are encouraged to help with photo documentation.

“It’s really cathartic and a beautiful experience to get out there and hear the birds singing and see all the plants,” Rogers said. “You can help a cause and reconnect with nature.”

For more information about the project, visit www.inaturalist.org/projects/georgia-grasslands-initiative-ggi. For more information about the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a unit of UGA Public Service and Outreach, visit botgarden.uga.edu.

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

Contact: Will Rogers, bonjour@uga.edu

Native plants installed by the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia near the GA-10 Loop in Athens, Ga., are changing the area from being covered in kudzu back to a more natural state.

The project, funded by Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful, was planted in November 2021. Volunteers from the State Botanical Garden, Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful, the Georgia Department of Transportation and students from the UGA College of Environment and Design all pitched in to plant the area along the entrance ramp next to the GA-10 Loop at Milledge Avenue.

Zach Wood, the grasslands coordinator at the State Botanical Garden, said all the plants chosen for the project are native to Georgia. He said they selected hardy species of plants they felt pretty confident would survive.

In total, 22 native plant species are planted at the site, including butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa; purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea; Blackeyed Susan, Rudbeckia fulgida; and Carolina Lupine, Thermopsis villosa.

“Native plants function to support their ecosystem, and that’s important because our roadsides are turning into monocultures of non-native species that don’t support our native wildlife,” Wood said.

He added that non-native species don’t filter water as well as native species, which is significant on roadsides to handle stormwater runoff.

When they’ve checked on the plants, all the species planted were established and growing. Wood said there was concern the plants would succumb to drought, but the value of native plants is their ability to survive in stressful conditions.

Blue Mistflower, Conoclinum coelestinum, grows in the Loop 10 planting site.

The team doesn’t water the area at all.

“It would go against the spirit of doing it,” Wood said. “We’re trying to figure out the least effort to put native plants back into a place that’s been kind of beat up.”

The botanical garden initially applied for a grant to do the project but did not receive it. Stacee Farrell, executive director of Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful, wanted to see the project happen and took it to the Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful Board of Directors, who decided to help fund the project.

“We’re really excited to support the project and to help plant native and drought-tolerant species,” Farrell said. “We love the folks at the botanical garden and want to help implement their work and research. It’d be great to continue to replicate this project not just here but around the state.”

Up until 2011, the site was covered in kudzu. Wood said there are still a lot of non-native invasive species at the site, such as crabgrass, foxtail grass and Johnson grass.

The GDOT District 1 Office in Gainesville, Ga., has supported the project by providing a right-of-way location on Loop 10, helping install the plants, creating signage and helping ensure that the planted site is not mowed until appropriate times.

“This project is so important because it’s so visible,” Wood said. “It’s going to demonstrate an alternative way of managing roadsides.”

Richard Littleton, state agronomist manager at GDOT, handles anything having to do with roadside vegetation, flower plantings and mowing for the northern half of the state. He helped install the native plants on Loop 10 and ensured that signage went up so the native plantings aren’t mowed while in growing season.

State Botanical Garden Conservation Coordinator Jennifer Ceska visits native plants growing at the Loop 10 site.

“We’re always looking for ways to make things sustainable,” Littleton said. “The more we can do that’s natural, it helps everything. It’s the right thing to do to be a good steward of our lands.”

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

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

Contact: Zach Wood, Zachary.Wood@uga.edu

It’s a quintessential spring morning at the University of Georgia’s State Botanical Garden. The sun is starting to peek out from behind a patchwork of pale gray clouds, warming the air.

It’s an idyllic setting for another session of Meet Me at the Garden. This pilot program, delivered by the education teams at UGA’s Cognitive Aging Research & Education (CARE) Center and the State Botanical Garden, wants to “expand the bubble” of persons living with dementia and their caregivers through interactive education and sensory activities.

Four pairs of people with dementia and their caregivers signed up to participate in this pilot program, attending four sessions over four months. Each two-hour session has a learning theme – today’s is all about greens – and CARE Center team members, cheerfully referred to as garden gurus, support each pair throughout the session by answering questions and serving as personal guides.

The pairs and their gurus gather at the Children’s Garden among a semi-circle of raised beds chock full of winter vegetables and flowers. Today, they are planting and harvesting greens and herbs. “Oh, that’s exciting!” exclaimed Odette, one of the participants. “Tony, we get to take home some plants. Won’t that be nice?” she asked her husband Tony, who stands at her side.

Odette takes a few steps back as Tony leans over a spray of kale and cabbage leaves. Yellow and purple pansies stand out against a background of bright green. Children’s Garden curator Katie McCollum shows Tony where to snip the stems of the kale he wants to take home and hands him a pair of scissors.

Odette is watching from a few feet away. She takes a few pictures of Tony, then turns to survey another raised bed of lettuces next to her.

Tony, who sits on a ledge in the garden, is participating in the Meet Me at the Garden program with his wife, Odette.

Two months ago, at the first session of Meet Me at the Garden, Odette stuck close, seemingly reluctant to leave Tony alone for too long. It’s become habit. For the last year and a half, Odette has watched as Tony’s processing speed, memory and ability to take care of himself have slowly slipped away due to Alzheimer’s disease.

The CARE team knows this dynamic all too well.

When someone becomes a caregiver, one thing that happens,” said CARE Center Co-Director Lisa Renzi-Hammond, “is that relationship dynamics shift in a way that is uncomfortable for both caregivers and for patients.”

“Spouses, for example, who were equal partners in a relationship end up becoming unbalanced and asymmetrical,” she said. “So, instead of both partners jointly making decisions together, problem solving together, one partner ends up having to make the bulk of the decisions and telling the other partner what to do.”

Odette is learning to care for Tony in this new dynamic.

Tony was a chemical engineer who loved working with his hands and getting out into nature. He used to garden, and once built a catamaran from scratch, even sewing the sail himself. And, Odette and Tony loved taking walks at Sandy Creek Park with their dog, Zoro.

Now, Odette says, Tony just wants to watch TV most days.

“My main goal [of participating in Meet Me at the Garden] was to see Tony interacting and how he enjoys being creative still,” she said.

Tony stands with Hannah Huff, who works at the CARE Center, on a bridge in the Botanical Garden.

Stimulating the senses

Art and music therapy are commonly recommended to help persons living with dementia because they help them tap back into their creativity and engage their senses.

“Senses are the gateway to the brain,” said Renzi-Hammond. “If you are going to stimulate a brain and have it do something magnificent, it usually happens through the senses.

“While no one should expect that people living with Alzheimer’s or dementia will improve their processing speeds, memory or executive function, we should be able to engage senses.”

The CARE Center is engaged in multiple levels of research to better understand and prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The center also provides outreach to communities in order to offer better support and education on an issue that impacts over 6.5 million people in the U.S. and an estimated 150,000 Georgians.

When State Botanical Garden Director Jenny Cruse-Sanders approached the CARE team about adapting a Meet Me at the Garden program she’d learned about at the Naples Botanical Garden in Florida, they jumped at the opportunity.

“We believe strongly that connections to plants and nature are essential for a good life,” said Cruse-Sanders. “We also believe that those connections should be accessible to everyone. With this program, we could adapt our preexisting curriculum to connect us with an audience that is becoming ever larger in our country.”

Tulips in bloom at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.

The garden’s Director of Education Cora Keber was connected with Master of Public Health student Lydia Burton to start developing a curriculum for the program.

Each session, they decided, would have things available to taste, touch, smell, manipulate and to take home to look back on and remember. The participants also get to take home a lesson about the topic du jour. The group has learned about the history of coffee and tea, chocolate, how eating greens helps your brain, and native plants and pollinators.

Burton is delivering the program curriculum as part of her capstone project, which is required for all MPH students. At the end of each session, Burton and the garden gurus help their pairs fill out a questionnaire that asks about how the day’s session made an impact on both the dementia patients and their caregiver.

“We want to see if their quality of life has improved from learning and being out in nature and seeing new things or new sides of the person that they love,” said Burton. “I’m hoping to see changes and improvements in quality of life, their bond together, and I’m hoping to see that they are engaged with the activities.”

The benefits of a bigger bubble

As Alzheimer’s disease or dementia progresses, people living with the disease and their care partner tend to stay at home where the environment feels familiar and safe, rarely socializing with others.

“When people are in that bubble together, they’re isolated. Every day is exhausting, it’s just getting to the next day. This is something that’s accessible,” said Burton.

Meet Me at the Garden was designed to offer a space where everyone can be on equal footing and the responsibility of caregiving is distributed around the room.

Garden Guru Hannah Huff is happy to take on this responsibility. She’s been working with Tony and Odette since they first contacted the CARE clinic hoping to get a diagnosis.

“I just think it’s great that I’m able to be here to support them so that they can experience these things without Odette having to be like, ‘OK, I’m the caregiver. I need to be a caregiver 24/7. No, I can just exist and be here with my husband and go on a walk in the sensory gardens,’” said Huff. “It’s really nice to see her exhale and let her explore.”

Odette also has more opportunities to interact with other caregivers and talk about the challenges and the difficult days.

Odette says she does see a difference in Tony on the days they come to Meet Me at the Garden. He’s engaged with the activities and moves around a lot more. When Odette tells Tony they’re going to the Botanical Garden, he smiles.

“When I see him involved in something that he likes, of course it makes me feel good,” Odette said. “And also, it breaks our schedule being able to meet other people, because it’s me and him all the time, or doctors and appointments. So, it’s nice. It’s refreshing, and I feel supported. This is like my second family. My first family, really, because I don’t have anybody here.”

Tony and his wife, Odette, are part of the Meet Me at the Garden pilot program.

These are the types of benefits that the team wants to demonstrate to apply for funding. Additional funding will allow them to expand the program to benefit more people across Georgia.

The pilot program wrapped up in April, but the team is planning to take the program to the CARE Center this summer and use raised garden beds. Eventually, the programming will be developed so that rural counties that have been working with the CARE Center through the UGA Archway Partnership can adopt Meet Me at the Garden for their communities.

Today, Odette and Tony are going home with a bag of kale, a salad dressing they made together with fresh thyme, and plenty of photos of Tony that Odette will share with her cousin.

Renzi-Hammond hope that each of the participants, whether in this pilot or in future programs, will take home more than souvenirs of their day at Meet Me at the Garden.

“We hope that people look at the things that they take home from the garden, the plants that they bring back into their spaces, as a way of remembering that it is still possible to connect with their loved one and engage with them,” she said.

By: Lauren Baggett, lbaggett@uga.edu and Laurel Clark, laurel.clark@uga.edu

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia recently announced the winners of its 2023 Student Art Competition.

The competition, funded by The J.A. and H.G. Woodruff, Jr. Charitable Trust, is open to students in 9th grade and above, including college students, attending school full- or part-time in Georgia.

This competition is sponsored to select original artwork that may be used to create signature items for sale at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at UGA gift shop, such as note cards, T-shirts, scarves and mugs. Winning artwork may also be used on the garden website, brochures and promotional materials.

This year’s winners are:

1st place – Sadie Pijanowski, University of Georgia 

Sadie Pijanowski’s work is entitled “Scenes of the Garden.” She said the State Botanical Garden at UGA is one of her favorite spots on the University of Georgia campus, and she visits frequently to enjoy the calming and beautiful scenery. Her work was created as a digital version of her usual painting style.

“My artistic practice focuses on flora and fauna, especially those native to Georgia, and there is always a wealth of inspiration in the gardens,” Pijanowski said. “This work is a reflection of gratitude for the gardens and the vast beauty of Georgia’s natural landscape.”

2nd place – Sarah Love, University of Georgia

Sarah Love’s artwork, entitled “Dispersion,” was inspired by nature, contrasting textures of soft, elegant wildflowers with hard, sharp pinecones.

“Every plant has its own method of dispersing its seeds in order to produce successful seedlings,” Love said. “Pine trees grow pinecones to protect their seeds from predators, giving them a chance to survive. Wildflowers disperse their seeds with the winds or wandering wildlife.

“In the end, they all end up on the forest floor together. This also correlates to our relationships with others and our environment. We all have different paths toward conservation and preservation, but the goal is to all reach the same endpoint—protecting the natural world around us.”

3rd place – Keller Mclaughlin, University of Georgia

“Daisy Dreams” by Keller Mclaughlin is inspired by the vibrant springtime blooms in Athens.

Mclaughlin visited the State Botanical Garden at UGA and was blown away by the flowers’ colors, shapes and form. She hand-painted the flowers, then digitized them and created a repeating pattern.

“Each year, I am so impressed with the wonderful art competition submissions we receive,” said the garden’s director, Jenny Cruse-Sanders. “The State Botanical Garden’s core values include that the garden must engage, nurture and lift our spirits, touch hearts and stimulate our thinking. You can see the influence of the garden’s beautiful spaces in the work submitted in this year’s art competition, and I thank every student who submitted their artwork.”

Honorable mentions for this year’s competition include:

• Chantelle Chapman, “Endangered Spring”
• Jaci Davis, “Swallowtail on a Lantana”
• Chinmayi Shukla, “The Gifts of Georgia”

For more information about the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a unit of UGA Public Service and Outreach, visit botgarden.uga.edu.

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

The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education & Hotel installed a Georgia Pollinator Plant of the Year garden to help raise awareness about declining pollinating insect populations.

The Georgia Center worked with the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia to install a garden that featured Pollinator Plant of the Year selections. Since the Georgia Center functions as a primary hub for the university, the garden could be seen by thousands of visitors, in addition to students and Athens residents.

The statewide Georgia Pollinator Plant of the Year program was started by the State Botanical Garden of Georgia to annually select four plants that perform exceptionally well in gardens and provide resources for pollinators. A state-wide panel selects the plants, and the winners are promoted around the state to encourage growers to produce pollinator-friendly plants and to guide buyers toward plants that are good for supporting helpful insects. The program is funded in part by the Vaughn-Jordan Foundation.

The Georgia Center garden installation totaled 50 perennial pollinator plants, including Aromatic Aster and Blue Wild Indigo—two species from the most recent Pollinator Plant of the Year list.

“This is a small garden with a big impact,” said Jaime DeRevere, Georgia Center groundskeeper. “The Georgia Center’s mission is to promote further education, and this is a product of that. Through this rewarding work, we grow as a community and as a university.”

The project also included Botanical Garden horticulturalists Emily Laske and Heather Alley, as well as students in the Learning by Leading program, which provides UGA students with the opportunity to learn and work directly with professionals from the Botanical Garden.

Pollinator gardens encourage everyone in a community, urban or rural, to participate in this essential activity.

“Everyone can plant a garden like this one and incorporate native plants into their landscaping and in doing so, we all can serve as environmental stewards throughout the community,” said Alley.

UGA senior Claudia White, of Thomasville, helped plant the Georgia Center pollinator garden. She became interested in working with the State Botanical Garden’s Connect to Protect program through resources at UGA’s Office of Sustainability. A dual major in anthropology and geography, she gained a broader understanding of the “valuable impact” that Connect to Protect has on the environment, people and public service.

Connect to Protect combines public native plant displays, which often include the Georgia Pollinator Plants of the Year, with educational tools to teach the importance of incorporating pollinators into every landscape as a way to stimulate healthy ecosystems.

During the pandemic, construction and renovation projects at the Georgia Center created gaps in the landscape that turned out to be the perfect size for the pollinator garden, which was installed in the Lumpkin Plaza area adjacent to the lobby.

Jill Carnes, one of three groundskeepers at the Georgia Center, said it’s crucial to take on a caretaker role for pollinating insects.

“Their livelihood is our livelihood, and we benefit each other just like any other community,” she said.

In addition, the botanical garden keeps a list of nurseries that sell native pollinator plants in Georgia, and they also host a native plant sale each fall.

For more information about the Georgia Pollinator Plant of the Year program and the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, visit https://t.uga.edu/8sn.

Writer: Kensie Poor, Kensie.Poor@georgiacenter.uga.edu

Spring is finally here, and the experts at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia share tips to think about before you start planting your garden.

Timing is key

The average last frost date for Athens is around April 15. Emily James, a curator and the plant records manager at the State Botanical Garden, recommends waiting to plant seeds or tender plants in the ground until after this date.

How much sun does your yard receive?

Monitoring your yard or patio for how much sun it receives can help with plant selection.

“Morning sun is less intense, and plants that prefer less light do better in the morning light,” James said.

Some common plants that prefer morning sun are daylilies, begonias, peonies, lobelia and caladiums.

Full-sun plants will need at least six hours of direct sunlight each day, while part-sun or part-shade plants should receive between three and six hours of direct sun each day. Plants needing shade should receive less than two hours of direct sunlight daily.

Test your soil

James recommends that you test your soil before purchasing plants to know if you’ll need to amend the soil for a favorite plant or to buy plants that will do well with the soil you have. UGA Extension has information about soil testing that can be found at https://t.uga.edu/8UR.

If you are looking to add to your garden, the State Botanical Garden is hosting its annual spring plant sale April 13-15 this year. Shoppers can buy beautiful plants, receive expert advice and support the garden.

Shoppers choose from a wide selection of plants at the spring plant sale in 2022.

Select the right plants for your space

Staff from the horticulture and conservation departments, along with Master Gardeners, will be at the plant sale to answer gardening questions and make recommendations for your specific needs.

“This is a great opportunity to talk to well-trained professionals,” James said. “Come to us with your questions and challenges, and we can make recommendations.”

The available plant list will be posted on the garden’s website, botgarden.uga.edu, before the sale. There will be a variety of vegetables, shrubs, fruits, perennials and annuals available for purchase, along with an emphasis on native plants.

Incorporate natives

Native plants are great for tolerating our climate, James said. It’s important to keep native plants well-watered throughout the first year, but once established they can survive with minimal supplemental watering during extreme dry spells.

All proceeds from the plant sale go back to the horticulture department to support staff and purchase plants that keep the garden looking beautiful year-round.

“The spring plant sale supports the garden’s vision to celebrate the best in Southern horticulture, natural heritage and culture through excellence in gardening displays and practices and stewardship of healthy, natural ecosystems,” said the director of the State Botanical Garden, Jenny Cruse-Sanders.

Thursday, April 13, is the preview sale for Friends of the Garden members only. Friends of the Garden members will receive a 10 percent discount and get to shop early. To become a member of Friends of the Garden, visit https://t.uga.edu/61s.

For more information about this year’s plant sale, visit botgarden.uga.edu.

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

Contact: Emily James, eejames@uga.edu

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