Spring Message from the TBG Executive Director

The importance of public gardens and urban green space

Photo: Executive Director Stephanie Jutila (centre) with Director of Marketing & Audience Engagement Jenny Rhodenizer (left) and Director of Learning Natalie Harder at the Holiday Market.

As spring emerges all around us with new vigour, I am once again washed in childlike wonder of Mother Nature. Maybe it is the anticipation of 30,000 spring bulbs emerging in the Garden, planted diligently by our horticultural team and volunteers, last fall.

The thought of endless weeks of spring blossoms stirs up the long-held memory of being amongst the daffodils in my mom’s garden, carefully leaping from one stepping stone to another amidst the blossoms…Or the sounds of spring peepers announcing that nature is waking up from a long winter’s slumber…But, if not the blossoms and the sounds, it is certainly the green haze that can be seen at a distance as the trees prepare to leaf out. I love it all, and there is no better place to experience spring than in our city’s parks and public gardens.

For the first time in four years, spring at the TBG includes the return of school children, as we relaunch our youth and family programs. On nearly a daily basis, the botanical garden team gets to experience the pure joy of sharing the wondrous world of plants with another generation. Just wait until summer when our campers return. Through all of these engagements we are reminded that many people in our city do not have access to safe and healthy natural places, and that Toronto Botanical Garden provides such a vital resource to our community. We are here on this tiny spot, on planet earth, with a mandate to steward the plants, the ecosystems and the connection of humans to the natural world.

We are fortunate to live in a city that has been named the fourth greenest city in the world by the World Economic Forum. While you may personally know that public gardens and greenspace are vital to your well-being, Toronto Botanical Garden has a key role to play to help our whole community know, experience and embrace the value of our city’s cultivated and natural places.

As we grow, TBG holds the opportunity to magnify the value of the Garden and the programs we offer, so that countless generations experience the good that comes from urban green spaces; and that our public green spaces continue to play an important role in raising social capital across our community, bringing together people from all walks of life to such welcoming places.

Here’s to a bright and abundant future as we embrace being a garden for all.

Stephanie Jutila Executive Director