Cooperative Extension programs across the United States are embracing food systems and local food as a new topic area. Previous studies indicate that successful local food programming requires cross program collaboration. However, research in this area...

Read this issue of Public Garden here.

Additional Content: Vol. 35, No. 1
 
Learning in the Garden
...

In an era of large-scale science-related challenges and rapid advancements in groundbreaking science with major societal implications, communicating about science is critical. The profile of
science communication has increased over the last few...

As land-use patterns change over time, some pollinating insects continue to decline both in abundance and diversity. This is due, in part, to reductions in floral resources that provide sufficient nectar and pollen. Our overall goal is to help increase...

This conifer exhibit created by Morton Arboretum is now available for download! These are great digital displays/panels that educate the public about the ecological and social importance of conifers. 

This is an example of how to design and share an electronic membership application with prospective members. 

This membership application and volunteer application is a good example for how a botanical garden can design and put together key information about volunteering and joining different membership levels. 

Concern over the use of pesticides in public areas, such as schools, daycare centers, and parks, has prompted some state and local governments to severely restrict or ban pesticides in these locations. Connecticut currently has bans for daycare centers...

This professional research project conducted a case study of the Green Streets Program
(“GSP”), a volunteer program of street garden maintenance provided by the City of Vancouver
(“City”). The project sought effective ways to further...

This Plan is intended to outline plans for preparing for emergencies and for immediate response and short-term recovery efforts in an emergency. In addition, it contains plans for the security of the Arboretum's living and non-living collections and...

North America’s agricultural and natural landscapes are vital to feeding humanity—they are home to many populations of important food plants and their wild relatives. Climate change is projected to significantly impact the agricultural sector and any...

Pollination is fundamentally important to ecosystem function and human food security.
Recent reports of dramatic insect declines, and pollinator decline in particular,
have increased public awareness and political motivation to act to...

Agriculture is comprised of managed ecosystems, which can include forests, rangelands
and crops; these managed ecosystems are vital resources, providing a host
of economic and societal benefits. However, these systems face a multitude of...

Academic campuses across the Great Plains can serve as landscapes for teaching and learning about native flora of cultural importance with regard to food, medicine, and lifeways. Campus visitors (tourists) and local community members could benefit from...

Despite the importance of bees, there is a gap in the public's understanding of them. To help address this gap, we developed the outreach tool Experience Bees, a series of simple learning and hands-on activities to teach community members about bees...

Based on local and national best practices for equity and inclusion work—and some promising applications in the local arts community—RACC has developed six building blocks to help organizations foster equitable access to the arts by increasing the...

The following is a collection of tools from ABCD faculty members as well as individuals and organizations that embody the principles of ABCD in their work. The addition of the toolkit was made possible by a generous grant from the Alumnae of...

Urbanization is a large driver of biodiversity globally. Within cities, urban trees, gardens, and residential yards contribute extensively to plant biodiversity, although the consequences and mechanisms of plant cultivation for biodiversity are...

Drastic phase down of our carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fossil fuels
within decades will likely be insufficient to avoid seeding catastrophic human‐caused
climate change. We have to also start removing CO2 from the...

Urbanization, lack of contact with the natural world, and growing up removed from agriculture has contributed to a void of knowledge relating to food and food production, along with a phenomenon known as plant blindness. We sought to change this lack...