At their next scheduled meeting, City of Irvine Great Park Board of Directors will discuss... “CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST BY DIRECTOR KIM AND DIRECTOR CARROLL TO DISCUSS A BOTANICAL GARDEN IN OR NEAR THE GREAT PARK” (Item 2.5 on published [...]
June—American Public Gardens Association Annual Conference For the fourth consecutive year, the Great Park Garden Coalition was in attendance at APGA, gleaning ideas from directors and designers at the top botanical gardens and arboretums across the country. Our own project [...]
Over the past decades, landscape architects have risen to the challenge of creating distinct “children’s gardens” within the boundaries of larger, established public parks and botanical gardens. In our increasingly urban and techno-centric world, we know green space reduces stress [...]
All flowers make us happy when we see them in a beautiful bouquet or growing in the garden, but... few make us smile more than the magical sunflower! At botanic gardens, sunflowers flourish in wildflower meadows and are the perfect [...]
Great Park Garden Coalition envisions a world-class botanical garden here in Irvine that wins accolades from local residents and welcomes the world to a year-round source of natural delight. In 2015, Richard Benfield, author of Garden Tourism and chair of [...]
Adapting to new safety protocols took a tremendous effort, but the silver lining for public gardens this past year was the greatly increased recognition of the essential value and benefit of experiences of the natural world. In fact, visitors not [...]
Even though it’s still winter on the calendar, it’s spring in southern California. How do we know? The California poppies have started blooming! These California natives bloom from February until it gets too hot (July?) but the most prolific bloom [...]
The New Year typically gives us a chance to reflect, look back, take stock, assess how we did, and resolve to do better. This past year has brought challenges like never before for all of us. The desire to look [...]
A new survey by a British charitable organization underscores the vital role that gardens play in relieving stress during times of high anxiety, isolation, and uncertainty. Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, our friends across the pond found solace in their beloved [...]
What a fun hour participating in a virtual Town Hall on "Gardening in a Pandemic". Many thanks to Irvine council member, Farrah Khan, for hosting and to Irvine middle schooler, Matthew Changg, who was my co-presenter. We shared the basics [...]
