Improving urban forests is one of the solutions to achieving several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and making cities healthier and more livable for people.

Public gardens can demonstrate their economic, environmental, and social impacts to demonstrate their value to surrounding communities by utilizing valuation tools for development and sustainability policies.

Intensively managed landscapes, like those found in many public gardens, attempt to mitigate the impact of significant weather events through irrigation, improving soil characteristics, and mulching.

Seasonal color plants add to the beauty and ever-changing nature of the garden. These seasonal color plants each have different growing requirements, transportation distances, display durations, etc.

Medicinal plants have an immense need for intensive curation and interpretation. Many of the more powerful and important medicinal species have little aesthetic value, making medicinal collections difficult to display.

Green spaces (zoos, city parks, and urban farms) and cultural institutions are capturing our gap audiences—racial minorities, youth and young adults, and people of lower socioeconomic status.

As interest in native plants and their habitats grows, what roles do we play as public garden professionals, in nurturing and expanding this interest, and providing sufficient learning opportunities?

A collaborative relationship between Asa Gray Garden at Mount Auburn (an active cemetery), architects, and nearby Arnold Arboretum resulted in a beautiful and inspiring garden featuring trees, shrubs, and perennials that provide color, texture, and year

How can public gardens reach out to young people and engage them with careers that include horticulture and plant science, to ensure the future of their workforce and skills succession?

Award-winning landscape designer, author, and thought leader Julie Moir Messervy shares her design studio’s visioning process that allows stakeholders to collaborate in creating special gardens of beauty and meaning for their public gardens.