Clippings - January - April 2024

Atlanta | Gainesville | January – April 2024

WELCOME BACK, ALICE! • FLOWER SHOW REBLOOMS • FIRST LOOK: EXPANSION ENTRY

| Atlanta President’s Message Season after season, the Garden is an extremely busy place with changing exhibitions and multiple floral installations to showcase the beauty and diversity of plants. And that was never more apparent than with the transformation from summer to fall this past year. It was something to behold!

I was reminded of busy bees as they flit from flower to flower gathering nectar and returning to the hive. That’s a good metaphor for our horticulture team as they pulled fading summer annuals; installed pumpkins, gourds and mums; and planted tulip bulbs to assure that we have not only a stunning fall display but a much-anticipated spring one as well.

As members, you may not always witness this “backof-house” work that makes the magic happen at the Garden. But our horticulture and curatorial teams are the knowledgeable professionals who assure that your visit to the Garden is both a delightful and educational experience.

Their depth of knowledge is remarkable, and many of our horticulturists have a specialty such as conifers, woodland plants, orchids and native plants. Considering that the Garden collections come from many places and habitats worldwide, it takes expertise in those areas to know how to grow and maintain these plants.

I love walking the Garden on any given day and talking to the horticulturists, curators and assistants about their work. This is the time of year when “editing” takes place, pruning and trimming back the bountiful greenery of trees and shrubs. And winter does not slow our team down; they work in all weather and adapt to conditions as needed.

Most recently, I was delighted to see that the talent also extends to social media as several of our horticulturists participate in fun and educational videos for our online presence. Check out the video on our Instagram of Taylor Polomsky and Shakim Cooper testing the weight limits of the stunning Amazon Victorian Water Lilies. I laughed out loud at their antics! What a great way to get people to understand the adaptations of that remarkable plant.

So, I encourage you, our members, to say hello to the professionals who keep this wonderful botanical garden flourishing. They are experts in their field with a deep passion and knowledge about plants, and they are eager to share how to cultivate them. And believe me, we have some finicky and rare specimens that require special knowledge and nurturing.

Mary Pat Matheson Anna and Hays Mershon President & CEO

Photo by Toni Smailagic

| Official News Publication for Members of the Atlanta Botanical Garden | Atlanta | Gainesville Vice President, Marketing: Jessica Boatright | Editor: Danny Flanders | Designer: Bo Shell | Membership Manager: Claudia McDavid 2

atlantabg.org

orchid daze Artist Lillian Blades shines light on vibrant color, bold blooms

Artworks by Lillian Blades. Cover background photo and green collage photo by Travis Grissom

Orchid Daze: Reflections in Bloom

by Lillian Blades Wednesday, Feb. 14 – Sunday, April 14 Orchid Care Clinic Saturday, March 30, 10 a.m. – Noon

Atlanta | Orchid Daze, the Garden’s annual celebration of its signature plant collection, blooms this winter with a dazzling exhibition by Atlanta artist Lillian Blades’ mixed media works set amongst a lush, colorful flowering landscape.

Blades will be creating all new collage works using materials that exploit the abundant light of the glasshouse setting to illuminate vibrant transparent colors and create patterns of sun and shadow.

“Light plays an important part of the work. I love how it bounces, how it goes through the materials and creates a stained glass effect with color,” Blades said in an interview. “I love the fact that you can see through it, you can move around it, almost like a wall, but treating it in a way like a painting, thinking of color, value, texture, the reflective qualities, the transparency of it.”

Blades creates her work from an assortment of materials, both found and constructed in her home-based studio.

Her artistry is influenced by her childhood home in The Bahamas, her ancestral background of West Africa and her late mother, who was a seamstress. These influences appear through her use of color and objects that evoke memory and history.

Blades’ work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions, and in public and private commissions in the United States as well as The Bahamas, Trinidad, Germany and South Africa. She received the Excellence in Arts award from The Bahamas Consulate in Atlanta and was named Visual Artist of the Year by the National Black Arts Festival.

The setting for Blades’ work will be three strikingly different orchid landscapes in the Fuqua Conservatory Lobby, Orchid Center Atrium and Orchid Center Display House. The warm colors of the Caribbean will dominate the lobby with exquisite Epidendrums, slipper orchids and dancing lady orchids that complement the color palette of her art. The architectural centerpiece of the atrium will be a domed gazebo framed by jewel-toned orchid curtains and surrounded by Blades’ sparkling collages. In the Orchid Display House, bold Vanda and Phalaenopsis columns will appear on a raised stage framed by a proscenium of Blades’ work and against a backdrop of her collages.

Becky Brinkman Fuqua Orchid Center Manager

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| Atlanta

WELCOME BACK! Alice & company living sculptures return this spring

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She’s b-a-a-a-c-c-c-k-k-k! Alice – aka the namesake of Alice in Wonderland – returns to the Garden this spring with all of her best friends from previous exhibitions of the giant living plant sculptures.

Alice’s Wonderland Returns, set for May 11 – September 15, features seven installations of 22 of the topiary-like mosaiculture pieces throughout the Garden.

“Ever since we featured Alice a few years ago, there’s rarely a week that goes by that a guest doesn’t ask when we’re bringing her back to the Garden,” said Mary Pat Matheson, the Garden’s President & CEO. “She is just that incredibly popular!”

Alice and company first debuted at the Garden in 2019’s Imaginary Worlds: Alice’s Wonderland.

The exhibition was so well received it returned in 2020 along with several new sculptures for a revival called Alice’s Wonderland Reimagined.

The sculptures are created through the centuries-old art of mosaiculture in which steel forms are covered in fabric, filled with soil and planted with thousands of living plants to form a colorful carpet.

For the spring show, look for a towering Alice to twirl in Howell Fountain, the giant White Rabbit to hold court in the Skyline Garden pond and a colorful chess set to marvel at in Skyline’s Event Lawn. In addition, the enormous Red Queen will dominate one edge of the Great Lawn, three Storybooks will greet guests after passing through the Visitor Center, and the ever-popular Cheshire Cat will keep an eye on it all from its perch in Alston Overlook.

New this spring will be the addition of Singing Flowers along the Flower Walk, blooming to recorded music as guests pass by.

The Garden first introduced audiences to the sculptures in 2013 when it presented the United States’ first major exhibition of mosaiculture produced by International Mosaiculture Montreal®, a nonprofit group that has staged enormously successful displays of its work around the world.

Atlanta |

Rendering by Hoerr Schaudt

EXPANSION UPDATE

Come on down!

New entrance plaza designed, programmed to attract new guests One key to the popularity of the Garden’s expansion along the Atlanta Beltline will be creating an inviting entry plaza.

Plans call for the new additional Garden entrance to offer programs that will entice would-be guests inside for a look-see at the nearly 8 acres of new gardens. A covered space at one end of the new visitor center and a grassy area are expected to offer small classes and interactive programs such as

storytelling, container gardening and Tai Chi, for example, said Mary Pat Matheson, the Garden’s President & CEO. “These will all be free because we want people to come into the Garden, especially if they’ve never visited before,” she said.

In addition, the visitor center’s café will be open to the plaza so that visitors may purchase coffee, cold drinks and pastries for enjoying in an outdoor seating area.

Plans also include a restroom and space where cyclists can lock up their bikes and helmets.

And, though not allowed inside the Garden, dogs will be welcome to relax with their owners in the plaza, which will offer a water station.

Marking the new entrance will be a mosaiculture sculpture of the Phoenix, the symbol of Atlanta rising from the ashes as it did after the city was burned during the Civil War. The Garden expects site work for the expansion, which is still in the planning stages, to begin in early 2025 with a targeted completion of late 2027. The project will be funded by a $150 million capital campaign, of which Matheson said nearly $100 million has been raised to date.

For updates, visit atlantabg.org. atlantabg.org

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| Atlanta

flower show ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDEN

Say it with scents at the biennial spring showcase Yearning for springtime? The Atlanta Botanical Garden Flower Show couldn’t come at a better time, as the final weeks of winter begin to wind down in late February.

Appropriately themed Primavera, the biennial indoor show, held February 23 – 25, features the region’s most exquisite creations in the competitive divisions of Horticulture, Floral Design, Botanical Arts and Photography.

“The Garden is the ideal setting for this beautiful event where we bring together hundreds of exhibitors, floral enthusiasts and Garden guests to experience the show in all its glory, to explore our annual Orchid Daze exhibition while here and enjoy the splendor of spring unfolding,” said Mary Pat Matheson, the Garden’s President & CEO. In addition to the judged entries by exhibitors from all over the United States, the show will include displays of Ikebana, the centuries-old Japanese art of flower arranging – back by popular demand from the 2020 show. Also featured will be an educational exhibit on Adaptive Gardening highlighting the Garden’s community engagement with programs in which the basics of horticulture, agriculture and conservation are taught.

New for the show is the Botanical Arts division which includes such visitor “eye candy” as spring couture, jewelry and birdhouses, all expressed in flowers.

And, of course, the foundation of the show – the Horticulture division – is a means for locals to show off that prized cutting from their home gardens.

For information about exhibiting as well as the show’s Preview Party, visit atlantabg.org.

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atlantabg.org

Atlanta Botanical Garden Flower Show Friday, Feb. 23 - Sunday, Feb. 25 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Garden member admission: $10

Atlanta |

Allée overhaul The heart of the Garden gets a much-needed refresh

Strolling from the Parterre down Crape Myrtle Allée, admiring some tulips and the view of the Fuqua Conservatory along the way, you’re probably enjoying the beauty that surrounds – not that loose paver or puddle of standing water. As one of the oldest walkways in the Garden, the Allée is due for an update.

Beginning in January, pathway bricks will be removed and grading corrected before new pavers are laid. Pavers covering the plaza surrounding Howell Fountain also Iris ‘Eco Easter’ will be removed and the surface regraded, then paved with concrete.

The renovation will enhance the stroll for enjoying the beautiful 20-foot-tall ‘Nachez’ crape myrtles framing the view of the fountain and Conservatory.

The project also provides the perfect opportunity to renovate the plantings along the pathway and make the two sides more cohesive.

An evergreen groundcover layer of Iris ‘Eco Easter’ and Euonymus fortunei ’Coloratus’ (Purple Wintercreeper) will lend year-round appeal. Complementing existing plantings, more Japanese aralia, leopard plant, flowering quince and aucuba Lycoris squamigera will be added. Accenting another umbrella pine near the Japanese Garden entrance, a Sciadopitys verticillata ‘Jeddeloh Compact’ will be planted as well as Aspidistra ‘Tiny Tank’. A ribbon of Surprise Lily, Lycoris squamigera, will pop up in late summer. Then, in the fall more perennial species tulips and the starflower Ipheion ‘Rolf Fiedler’ will be planted for early spring blooms.

And don’t worry, the towering ‘Claudia Wannamaker’ magnolias flanking the plaza aren’t going anywhere; they will continue to provide southern hospitality to the heart of the Garden.

Project funding provided by the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust.

Ipheion ‘Rolf Fiedler’

Amanda Bennett Vice President, Horticulture & Collections

atlantabg.org

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Stroll the Flower Walk for a 2020 bulb flashback

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Bulbs are anything but boring.

Sometimes big things come in small packages – especially when they’re planted by the tens of thousands producing waves of spring blooms that last more than a month. Stored inside one little resting bulb is enough life, energy and nourishment to delight thousands of guests But what if the Garden’s bulbs bloom, and no one’s around to see them? They’re just as gloriously beautiful, but without the smiles, awe, joy and pictures, the season loses its luster. And that’s just what happened in March 2020 when – during the dawn of the Covid pandemic – the Anne Cox Chambers Flower Walk bloomed with more than 37,000 bulbs for Atlanta Blooms!, and because the Garden was closed, the view was enjoyed only from the internet.

For that reason, the horticulture team decided last fall to repeat the planting, as closely as possible, so guests could enjoy it for themselves in spring 2024.

When the team thinks of Atlanta Blooms! it plans for a crescendo. Starting in early March (sometimes late February) with narcissus, hyacinths and crocus, the Garden’s display builds with blooms, shifting to narcissus and tulips, then finishing out the season with anemones and tulips.

Not every seasonal bed gets all bulb types, but the Flower Walk is large enough to incorporate as many as possible. Often bulbs are layered there, meaning multiple types are planted with one another. In Flower Walk, at least two types are often planted together to make a long-lasting statement – hyacinths with tulips, daffodils with tulips, tulips with tulips.

Some varieties from the 2020 planting were no longer available last fall. So the team is anxious to see how the additions of Anemone ‘His Excellency’, Narcissus ‘Le Torch’ and Tulip ‘Double Bubble’ will perform alongside longtime favorites and stellar performers like Tulip ‘National Velvet’, Tulip ‘Temple of Beauty’, Anemone ‘Mount Everest’ and Narcissus ‘Las Vegas’.

Planning the bloom and color sequences brings the ultimate satisfaction when guests see all the thoughtfully designed beds, then round the corner to Flower Walk and say “Wow!” Especially when they will enjoy the flashback planting in person.

Anemone ‘His Excellency’

Narcissus ‘Le Torch’

Tulip ‘Double Bubble’

Amanda Bennett Vice President, Horticulture & Collections atlantabg.org

| Atlanta

Vanilla Sunday

Get a taste of exotic isles during annual celebration

Step into spring with a visit during Vanilla Sunday on March 3.

From 1 – 4 p.m., see vanilla orchids up close and learn about this popular spice at discovery stations. Watch a chef demonstration and sample a mini vanilla sundae while supplies last.

Cultivated in tropical regions around the world for a thriving market, vining vanilla orchids are typically planted in shade houses with structures to climb on or next to support trees in open plantations. Vanilla is cultivated in both ways on the island of Taha’a, near Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Dubbed “the vanilla island” for the orchid’s proliferation there, Taha’a celebrates the unique floral aroma and plump beans of Tahitian vanilla. A favorite meal features vanilla in four courses, the tiny flavor-packed seeds flecking sweet and savory dishes alike.

Taste the islands with this featured recipe and follow it with vanilla bean crème brûlée and a visit to the Fuqua Orchid Center.

Winter will feel a thousand miles away!

Heather Chiller Public Programs Manager

Mahi Mahi with Vanilla Cream Sauce INGREDIENTS • 4 mahi mahi fillets • 1 vanilla bean • 1/2 cup rum • 3 T butter • 1 shallot • 1/2 cup dry white wine • 1 tsp bouillon of your choice • 1 cup heavy cream • Salt and pepper, to taste 1.

Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise; scrape out the seeds.

2.

Simmer the seeds and bean in rum on medium-high heat until about 2 T of liquid remain. Remove from heat and pull out the bean.

3.

Sauté 1 T butter and shallot on medium heat.

4.

Add vanilla rum, white wine and bouillon. Slowly mix in cream.

Simmer until it reaches the consistency of a thick sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.

5.

With remaining 2 T butter, gently fry the Mahi Mahi until golden brown. Plate the mahi mahi and pour sauce over the top. Serve with coconut rice and vegetables.

ABC-TV names Garden Lights national champion!

See why Garden Lights Holiday Nights was selected as national “Heavyweights” champion among professional light displays during the 2023 season of ABC-TV’s The Great Christmas Light Fight!

In December, the Garden competed against three other light shows on the prime time special — River of Lights at the ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden in Albuquerque, NM; the Winter Lantern Festival in New York City; and Galaxy Lights at Space Center Houston – in its special category, judged by series co-host Taniya Nayak (left).

Garden Lights, presented by Invesco QQQ, took home the trophy, currently displayed in the Hardin Visitor Center, along with a $50,000 prize. The episode can be viewed at abc.com or streamed on Hulu.

The 13th annual Garden Lights continues through January 14. For tickets, visit atlantabg.org.

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Atlanta |

THINK

SPRING! Symposium provides helpful advice, inspiring ideas Join the Garden for a full day of new ideas from seasoned experts at the annual Spring Gardening Symposium on Saturday, Jan. 27.

The symposium is from 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. and will be recorded and available for viewing for up to two weeks after the event. Registration fee is $109 ($99 for Garden members). To register, visit atlantabg.org.

The annual daylong event features five presentations: Creating a New Perennial Movement Garden for the South Sarah Carter, Vice President, Goizueta Gardens and Living Collections, Atlanta History Center. Learn how the Goizueta Gardens team took the principals of a design style, fused aesthetics with ecological awareness and created a new look.

Rots, Spots and Blights: The Usual Suspects Causing Disease in Landscapes Jean Williams-Woodward, Associate Professor, Extension Plant Pathologist, University of Georgia. Know diseases to watch for, factors contributing to disease development and how to lessen diseases in landscapes.

American Roots Nick and Allison McCullough, award-winning garden designers and co-authors of America Roots. Take a journey across the country to celebrate the American garden. Gain inspiration, planting tips and an expanded notion of what an American garden is.

A Year in Our Bog: Promoting the Conservation of Biological Controls and Finding a Balance Maxwell Kotelnicki, the Garden’s Conservation Display Garden Horticulturist. Explore the Garden’s Sarracenia species collection and go beyond the bog for inspiration with a wider ecological approach and adaptable plant suggestions to consider.

Beauty of the Wild Darrel Morrison, landscape architect, educator and author of Beauty of the Wild.

Get to know the people and places that have inspired him and were important in the development of his ecologically sound landscaping philosophy.

UPCOMING CLASS LISTINGS NOW ONLINE

KNOWLEDGE BLOOMS! ATLANTA Introduction to Drawing in Black & White Discover composition, proportion, shading and perspective using a variety of black and white mediums in this required introduction to the Garden’s popular Botanical Drawing Program.

GAINESVILLE Spring Container Gardening Explore container gardening basics: plant selection, soil types and choosing appropriate containers for spring. Learn which annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs do well in pots this season to make the most beautiful container gardens for your home.

atlantabg.org

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GARDENING TIPS ARTS & CRAFTS CHEF DEMOS atlantabg.org

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atlanta happenings

| Atlanta

Valentines in the Garden

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 6:30 - 10:30 p.m.

Bring your sweetheart for a romantic evening in the Garden, where fragrant orchids, live music, dancing, sweets and surprises set the mood. For ticket information, visit atlantabg.org.

Botanical Drawing Program

Beginning Tuesday, Jan. 16.

Learn to draw under the guidance of artist Carol Anne Sutherland. Beginning with principal drawing of the natural world in black and white, the courses develop technique until students gain the ability to dynamically capture majestic trees in graphite pencil and intricate orchids in colored pencil. Upon completion of the program, students will earn a Botanical Drawing Certificate.

Visit atlantabg.org for details.

Atlanta Botanical Garden Flower Show

Friday, Feb. 23 – Sunday, Feb. 25, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Showcasing the theme Primavera, this fourth biennial event, held indoors at the Midtown garden, highlights stunning creations in the competitive divisions of Horticulture, Floral Design, Photography and Botanical Arts.

Member admission: $10. Information: abgflowershow.org.

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atlantabg.org

Atlanta |

Wednesday, Feb. 14 – Sunday, April 14 Explore the work of Atlanta artist Lillian Blades whose reflective collages form the perfect foil for the Garden’s extraordinary collection of colorful orchids.

Vanilla Sunday

Sunday, March 3, 1 – 4 p.m.

Surround yourself with the aromas and flavors of vanilla during a celebration of the orchid that yields this delicious spice. Savor an afternoon of cooking demos along with plant discovery and sensory experiences, then enjoy a mini vanilla sundae.

Camellia Show

Friday, April 19, 10 a.m. - Noon Enjoy engaging and fun family activities celebrating nature and the beautiful plants all around us!

Dazzling Diversity Orchid Show

March - April Explore hundreds of thousands of tulips, daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths. Check out a variety of ways to grow bulbs, including container gardens and floating islands. Watch for updates on peak bloom times at atlantabg.org

Monday, April 1 - Friday, April 5 10 a.m. – Noon Need an exciting family activity during Spring Break? Visit the Garden and enjoy the wonders of springtime with fun, seasonal family activities.

Earth Day

Saturday, Feb. 10, 1 – 5 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 11, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Experience “the rose of winter” with dozens of cut specimens during the North Georgia Camellia Society’s 74th annual Camellia Show. Honorary chair is Deen Day Sanders. To exhibit or for more details, contact President@ northgeorgiacamelliasociety.org.

Atlanta Blooms!

Spring Break Family Fun

atlanta happenings

Orchid Daze

Friday, March 8 – Saturday, March 9, 9 a.m.

– 5 p.m.; Sunday, March 10, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Take in unusual and rarely seen species and hybrids of orchids during the Atlanta Orchid Society’s annual show in Day Hall. Details at atlantaorchidsociety.org.

Sprouting Scientists

Tuesday, March 12, 10 a.m. - Noon Little ones can be scientists, too! Visit hands-on learning stations focusing on the natural world. Presented in partnership with the Atlanta Science Festival.

Saturday, March 23, 5 – 9 p.m.

Enjoy cocktails, refreshments, live music and fun entertainment while strolling among hundreds of thousands of dazzling spring bulbs.

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| Gainesville

A Note from the Director A new year brings exciting new adventures for the Gainesville Garden!

Our new, expanded parking lot creates new opportunities for increasing programming.

And because this is only the first phase of the expansion, we are going to use part of the area for future parking to create an Edible Garden.

Our education team is hard at work planning exciting new programs for 2024.

Ranging from concerts to educational festivals to some surprise fall events, the Garden will be hopping with new activities. Our Pollinator Festival will feature educational booths, plant experts, a pop-up plant sale, crafts, games and more. It will also be the perfect tie-in to our art exhibit Glass in Flight debuting this spring.

The new Edible Garden, designed as more of a traditional “in ground” southern row-crop vegetable garden, will allow us to offer adult classes on topics such as soil preparation, composting and growing edibles in the South. It also will serve as a wonderful demonstration area for school groups as there will be an accompanying pollinator garden adjacent to the vegetable beds. As we develop the Edible Garden, there will be opportunities for cooking demonstrations and classes, and perhaps even some wine tastings to pair with the edibles!

You won’t want to miss artist Alex Heveri’s Glass in Flight, which opens April 27, a beautiful exhibit of glass and metal sculptures. The Garden’s small, intimate “rooms” of diverse plantings lend the perfect setting for these gorgeous pieces.

Hope to see you in the Garden!

Mildred Fockele Gainesville Garden Director

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Glass in Flight Gigantic insect sculptures light throughout the Garden

Guests are in for a treat this spring when the Gainesville Garden presents Glass in Flight, a stunning exhibition that combines art and science.

Featured will be 22 of artist Alex Heveri’s glass and steel sculptures of gigantic insects. The sculptures are Dalle de Verre, French for “glass slab,” a technique that utilizes thick, 1-inch slabs of glass in large pieces to create the sculptures. Because the glass is much thicker than traditional stained glass, the colors are much more intense, especially when the pieces are displayed in sunlight, allowing the facets of glass to sparkle.

Sunlight through the glass mimics the transparency and iridescence of insect wings.

Heveri is a Tucson-based artist who has been creating the giant sculptures for more than 25 years. Her work, which appears in galleries, public venues and collections throughout the

United States, combines her love of beauty, the complexity of nature and a fascination with insects in the complex sculptures.

The exhibit, set for April 27 – October 27, will consist of 10 installations of 22 individual sculptures.

Guests will marvel at the 4-foot Stag Beetle, the 7-foot praying mantis and the 6-foot beehive with four bees. A bamboo arch will extend over one of the garden pathways with five dragonflies perched on it. In addition, there will be an adult hummingbird and baby hummingbirds sitting on metal tree branches.

The pieces will appear differently during the day as sunlight moves around the garden. Yet at all times guests will be amazed by the sparkle of the light, the realism of the pieces and the complexity of the creation of these “wings of wonder”.

Mildred Fockele Gainesville Garden Director

Gainesville |

Think spring ephemerals for attracting pollinators Ephemeral plants are as magical as they sound. Short periods of active growth mean they can be hard to find, appearing in early spring before tree canopies begin to shade out the forest understory, disguising them.

Ephemerals often co-evolved with specific pollinators that met their particular reproductive needs, and several plants with unique insect interactions are native to Georgia:

January – April Topics include beekeeping, photography, container gardening, painting and more.

Details at gainesvillegarden.org.

Homeschool Programming

Select Wednesdays, January - March Sessions cover topics connecting nature, science and art.

Great Backyard Bird Count©

Erythronium umbilicatum Dimpled Trout Lily

Friday, Feb. 16 - Monday, Feb. 19 Identify birds, count them and report your findings to staff to help them better understand and protect birds.

This plant produces a solitary yellow flower supported by a basal rosette of mottled leaves that resemble brook trout. Trout lilies have a specialist mining bee pollinator, Adrena erythronii, or the trout lily bee. These bees nest underground, meaning they are some of the first to emerge and pollinate early spring plants.

Girl Scout Badge Day

Saturday, March 16 Register your scout for a day of fun in the Garden while earning a badge focused on nature.

Spring Break Week Sanguinaria canadensis Bloodroot

Named for the blood-red sap it excretes from its rhizomes when injured, this plant is pollinated by early, small bees and flies (despite its lack of smell). Bloodroot is not pollinated by ants but rather uses them as seed distributors to ensure reproduction of the plant population.

gainesville happenings

Perfect matches

Adult Education Classes

Monday, April 1 – Friday, April 5 Participate in a free daily activity all week, which kicks off summer activities such as Fairytale Friday, Curiosity Carts and more!

Glass in Flight

Saturday, April 27 - Sunday, Oct 27 Created by nationally known sculptor Alex Heveri, the exhibition of glass sculptures captures the essence of flight.

Mertensia virginica Virginia Bluebells Trillium erectum Red trillium, Toadshade, Wakerobin

One of 22 native Georgia Trillium, this genus of plants is named for the three leaflike appendages from which the flower extends. The flower is carrion-scented, attracting flies and beetles with the smell of rotting meat.

Because of the nature of its trumpet-like, salverform flowers, this plant is pollinated mostly by hummingbird moths and longtongued bees that are able to reach the nectar within.

– Faith McKinnon, Assistant Horticulturist

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Atlanta Botanical Garden 1345 Piedmont Avenue, NE Atlanta, GA 30309

membersonly

NONPROFIT ORG U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 1162 Atlanta, GA

QUESTIONS? Call 404-591-1539 or email membership@atlantabg.org

commonground SUPPORT THE GARDEN AS A VOLUNTEER! Winter season volunteer orientation sessions include: Docent Tour Guide Training: Learn to lead adult and school groups on guided tours. This nine-class orientation takes place Wednesday mornings starting January 17.

Docents also are invited to monthly lunch meetings and field trips. Interview required.

Member Spring Evening

Monday, April 8, 5 – 8 p.m.

Explore thousands of spring blooms during a delightful evening featuring surprise entertainment, live music and family-friendly activities.

CONTRIBUTING & ABOVE

Light Bites & Garden Insights

ATLANTA: March 4, 5:30 – 7 p.m.

GAINESVILLE: April 25, 10:30 a.m. – Noon Contributing-level members and above are invited to hear presentations by Garden experts while enjoying light refreshments.

Look for an email with details. To upgrade to the Contributing level, call 404-591-1544.

DIRECTOR’S CLUB & ABOVE

Orchid Daze Soirée

Thursday, March 14, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Enjoy an elegant cocktail reception with entertainment, tasty hors d’oeuvres and desserts, then savor the season’s most stunning orchids featured in the exquisite annual exhibition. Invitations will be mailed. To upgrade to Director’s Club or one of the Circle levels of membership, call 404-591-1538.

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Discovery Volunteer Training: Teach visitors about plant collections, conservation work and current exhibitions. Volunteers are given talking points and materials to provide information and answer questions to enhance the guest experience. Training on Saturday, Jan. 20, 10 a.m. – Noon.

Member Day

Outdoor Kitchen Resource Assistant Training: Assist chefs in the Edible Garden Outdoor Kitchen with food prep, offering samples and serving courses. Opportunities are available on weekday evenings and weekend afternoons. Training on Saturday, March 23, 10 a.m. – Noon. Interview required.

Alice’s Wonderland Returns Member Preview

To learn more contact Volunteer Manager Josh Todd at jtodd@atlantabg.org.

CONTRIBUTING & ABOVE : May 6, 6 – 9 p.m.

planthotline

Saturday, April 6, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

GAINESVILLE: Members enjoy special entertainment, family activities and a treat while exploring the beauty of the Garden.

Look for an email with details.

ALL MEMBERS : May 7 and May 8, 6 – 9 p.m.

Be the first to experience the new mosaiculture exhibition, along with imaginative entertainment and fun activities, before the public opening.

Garden Center Discounts

Take advantage of one of the many perks of membership, a 10% discount at select garden centers, including Garden*Hood, North Georgia Native Plant Nursery, Beech Hollow Wildflower Farm, Randy’s Perennials and Water Gardens, and Pike Nurseries. Remember to take your curent membership card to receive the discount.

Clippings is available online at issuu.com/atlantabotanicalgarden

I didn’t have time to prune my rose bushes last fall. When should I prune them this year? Roses can be pruned in the late winter and early days of spring.

Mid- to late February is a great window for pruning them. Roses are very resilient, but they love a good pruning and as a result will reward you with healthier new growth.

404-888-GROW

planthotline@atlantabg.org