Public Garden Management E-Book

Donald Rakow

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1032

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The complete-and-ready reference for establishing, managing, and running a successful and sustainable, profitable public garden As unique museums with living collections of plants, public gardens offer visitors aesthetically beautiful landscapes combined with educational programming and scientific research that promote the value and understanding of plants. In the twenty-first century, public gardens are in the forefront of organizations and institutions committed to promoting the conservation of plants and their habitats, developing sustainable practices that support the environment, and providing green spaces where our increasingly stressed and urbanized citizens can reconnect with the natural world. It is critically important that such institutions have trained, knowledgeable staff members. Because of its comprehensive examination of public gardens, Public Garden Management is the ideal guide for staff members at public gardens, anyone considering a career in public gardens, groups starting a botanical garden or arboretum, and students discovering how these complex institutions work. Public Garden Management is an all-in-one professional reference and textbook that clearly shows how to develop, establish, manage, and maintain a sustainable--both economically and environmentally--public garden. Offering practical coverage of relevant topics, along with useful tools for reinforcing study, this insightful and forward-thinking guide is: * Copublished by the American Public Gardens Association * Written by a panel of leading experts in the field * Filled with dozens of case studies that are real-world illustrations of the principles explored in the text * Illustrated throughout with line drawings, figures, and photographs that assist in conveying critical information Students and professionals will benefit greatly from the management principles outlined in this book, helping them establish and maintain new and existing public gardens that engage, inspire, and connect with their communities.

Leseprobe

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Part I: Public Gardens and Their Significance 1

Chapter 1: What Is a Public Garden?

Introduction

Essential Criteria

Types of Public Gardens

Who Creates Public Gardens and Why

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 2: The History and Significance of Public Gardens

Introduction

Humans Are Place Makers

Public versus Private Gardens

Gardens Mirror the Surrounding Society

Public Garden Management and the Legacy of History

The Significance of Public Gardens in the Twenty-first Century

Gardens and the Future of Civilization

Summary

Annotated Resources

Part II: The Emerging Garden

Chapter 3: Critical Issues in Starting a Public Garden

Introduction

Motivations

Allies

Information Needs

Beg and Borrow

Recognize Your Limitations

Potential Obstacles

Managing the New Garden

Conclusion

Annotated Resources

Chapter 4: The Process of Organizing a New Garden

Introduction

Identifying and Organizing a Core Group

Identifying Key Stakeholders

Formalizing the Organization

Development of Vision, Mission, and Goals

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 5: Land Acquisition

Introduction

Financing the Land: Owning vs. Leasing or Renting

Mission, Resources, and Land Size

Other Site Considerations

Environmental Permitting Process

Research and Networking: Critical for Land Planning

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 6: Designing for Plants and People

Introduction

The Garden’s Origins and Its Design

Design Services

Steps in the Design Process

Hiring a Design Team

Summary

Annotated Resources

Part III: Administrative Functions

Chapter 7: Staffing and Personnel Management

Staffing the Start-Up Garden

Staffing the Developing Garden

Public Garden Jobs

Organizational Structure

Personnel Management

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 8: Volunteer Recruitment and Management

Introduction

The Value of Volunteers

Planning a Volunteer Program

Managing the Volunteer Program

Volunteer Recruitment and Placement

The Volunteer Handbook

Volunteer Training

Overseeing and Evaluating the Volunteer Program

Recognizing, Rewarding, and Retaining Volunteers

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 9: Budgeting and Financial Planning

Introduction

Why Budget?

Types of Budgets

The Relationship Between Budgeting and Cash Flow

Tools for Budgeting

The Budget Formulation Process

Budget Oversight and Financial Planning

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 10: Fund-raising and Membership Development

Introduction

Sources of Funding

Fund-raising in a Garden

The Giving Cycle

Fund-raising Programs

Evaluating the Development Program

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 11: Earned Income Opportunities

Introduction

Earned Income Opportunities

Managing Earned Income

Earned Income at Emerging and Established Gardens

Other Earned Income Issues

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 12: Facilities and Infrastructure

Introduction

The Next Step

Building New Structures

Common Botanical Garden Facilities

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 13: Grounds Management and Security

Introduction

Grounds Maintenance Needs

Grounds Management Staff

Total Plant Health Care

Roads, Pathways, and Infrastructure

Water Features

Sustainable Landscape Practices

Public Garden Security

Summary

Annotated Resources

Part IV: Programmatic Functions

Chapter 14: Public Gardens and Their Communities: The Value of Outreach

Introduction

What Are Some of the Ways to Conduct Outreach?

Planning an Outreach Program

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 15: Formal Education for Students, Teachers, and Youth at Public Gardens

Introduction

Rationale

Scope and Character of Formal Education in Public Gardens

Desirable Characteristics of Formal Education Programs

Where to Start: Structure and Operations

Department and Program Development

Ongoing Operations

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 16: Continuing, Professional, and Higher Education

Introduction

Audiences

Adult Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning

Professional Education

Higher Education

Developing New Programs

Evaluate to Ensure Quality Programs

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 17: Interpreting Gardens to Visitors

Introduction

What Is Informal Education?

Characteristics of Effective Interpretation

Developing Informal Education

Range of Interpretive Media

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 18: Evaluation of Garden Programming and Planning

Introduction

What Is Evaluation?

A Brief History of Museum Program Evaluation

Barriers to Conducting Evaluation

Who Does It?

Timing Is Everything

What Can Be Learned from Evaluation?

Data Collection

Special Considerations

Creating an Evaluation Plan

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 19: Public Relations and Marketing Communications

Introduction

Using the Mission to Market the Garden

Marketing Portfolio

Planning for Successful Marketing

Media Relations

Digital Marketing and Social Networking

Crisis Communications

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 20: Collections Management

Introduction

What Are Living Collections?

Collections Policy

Record Systems

Inventories

Plant Names in the Records

Collection/Inventory Maps

Bringing Records to the Web

Celebrating Collection Diversity

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 21: Research at Public Gardens

Introduction

How to Establish a Research Program

Systematics, Floristics, and Herbarium-Associated Research

Conservation-Focused Research

Human/Plant Interactions

Environmental Horticultural Research, Plant Breeding, and Evaluation

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 22: Conservation Practices at Public Gardens

Introduction

Approaches to Plant Conservation

Engaging the Garden in Conservation

Measuring the Success of Conservation Programs

Summary

Annotated Resources

Part V: Long-Term Initiatives

Chapter 23: A Strategic Approach to Leadership and Management

Introduction

The Difference Between Leadership and Management

Tools for Strategic Leadership: From a Shared Vision to a Plan

Tools for Strategic Management: From a Plan to Reality

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 24: Associations and Partnerships

Introduction

Nationally Based Professional Associations

International Associations

Forming Partnerships

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 25: Facility Expansion

Introduction

Why Expand Facilities?

Before the Master Plan

Developing the Master Plan

Budgets

Design Phases

Construction

Summary

Annotated Resources

Chapter 26: The Shape of Gardens to Come

Introduction

Time-Tested, Enduring Features of Early Gardens

Issues Public Gardens Face Today

The Public Garden of the Future

Summary

Appendix A: Factors in the Development and Management of Canadian Public Gardens

Appendix B: The Importance of Plant Exploration Today

Appendix C: Herbaria

Appendix D: Public Garden Archives

Appendix E: The Library in a Public Garden

Appendix F: Horticultural Therapy and Public Gardens

References

Contributors

Index

Copyright © 2011 by Donald A. Rakow and Sharon A. Lee. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Public garden management/[compiled by] Donald A. Rakow, Sharon A. Lee.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-53213-3 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-470-90457-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-90458-9 (ebk);

ISBN 978-0-470-90459-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-95069-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-95082-1 (ebk)

1. Gardens—Management. 2. Public spaces. 3. Gardening. I. Rakow, Donald Andrew, 1951- II. Lee, Sharon A., 1944-

SB467.8.P83 2011

712'.5068—dc22

2010016949

The authors wish to dedicate this book to their spouses, Sue Rakow and Philip Lebowitz, whose patience, support, and encouragement were absolutely essential throughout the long process of developing this book.

They would further like to dedicate it to all current and future students and practitioners of public horticulture, who have chosen a field that truly does make a difference in the lives of people and the planet on which we live.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their deep appreciation to Longwood Gardens for its generous and unwavering support throughout the process of developing this text. That support is in keeping with Longwood’s well-established leadership in the promotion of professional educational programs. In the 1960s, Longwood recognized the need to have a formalized education program in public garden management and administration and established the Longwood Graduate Program in Public Horticulture in partnership with the University of Delaware. Longwood has continued that leadership by endorsing Public Garden Management, the first textbook on the operations of a public garden, and recognizing the significant impact that such a textbook will have on the continued development of professional courses on the subject.

To the following individuals, we offer our sincere appreciation for their conscientious efforts in reviewing specific chapters:

James M. Affolter, Professor and Director of Research, State Botanical Garden of Georgia

Eleanor Altman, Executive Director, Adkins Arboretum

David P. Barnett, President and CEO, Mount Auburn Cemetery

Jessica Blohm, Interpretive Specialist, New York Botanical Garden

Donald R. Buma, Executive Director, Norfolk Botanical Garden

Marnie Conley, Marketing Department Head, Longwood Gardens Inc.

Richard A. Colbert, Executive Director, Tyler Arboretum

N. Barbara Conolly, Public Garden Leadership Fellow, Department of Horticulture, Cornell University

Michael Dosmann, Curator of Living Collections, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

Holly Forbes, Curator, University of California Botanical Garden at Berkely

Charlotte A. Jones-Roe, Associate Director, North Carolina Botanical Garden

Jeremy Jungels, Public Garden Leadership Fellow, Department of Horticulture, Cornell University

Patrick S. Larkin, Executive Director, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

Carol Line, Executive Director, Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve

Erin Marteal, Public Garden Leadership Fellow, Department of Horticulture, Cornell University

Scot Medbury, President, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Scott Mehaffey, Landscape Architect

Bill Noble, Director of Preservation, The Garden Conservancy

Ken Schutz, Executive Director, Desert Botanical Garden

Adam Schwerner, Director, Department of Natural Resources, Chicago Park District

Holly H. Shimizu, Executive Director, U.S. Botanic Garden

Sonja M. Skelly, Director of Education, Cornell Plantations

Shane Smith, Director, Cheyenne Botanic Gardens

Frederick R. Spicer Jr., Executive Director, Birmingham Botanical Gardens

R. William Thomas, Executive Director, Chanticleer Foundation

Lisa K. Wagner, Education Director, South Carolina Botanical Garden

Ellen Weatherholt, Public Garden Leadership Fellow, Department of Horticulture, Cornell University

Peter White, Director, North Carolina Botanical Garden

To Dorothea J. Coleman, our thanks for her invaluable help in researching and preparing the references.

We are most grateful to the Portico Group, Architects, Landscape Architects, Interpretive Planners, and Exhibit Designers, in Seattle, Washington, for permission to use images of some of their public garden plans, and to the gardens illustrated: Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens; Descanso Gardens; Hughson Botanical Garden; The Burden Center, Louisiana State University AgCenter; Portland Japanese Garden; San Francisco Botanical Garden; and Washington State University Arboretum and Wildlife Conservation Center.

Finally, we would like to acknowledge the assistance of the following in providing information for Appendix A, “Factors in the Development and Management of Canadian Public Gardens”: Chris Graham, former Director of Horticulture at Royal Botanical Gardens; Doug Hevenor, Director of the International Peace Garden; Sharilyn J. Ingram, Assistant Professor, Brock University; Harry Jongerden, Garden Director, VanDusen Botanical Garden; Michel Labrecque, Conservateur, Jardin botanique de Montréal; Alexander Reford, Director, Reford Gardens/Jardins de Métis; and Freek Vrugtman, Curator Emeritus at Royal Botanical Gardens.

Foreword

In our tumultuous modern world, public gardens, with their orderly and diverse collections of plants and extensive educational programs, are ideally positioned to make major contributions not only to the amenity of our lives but also to the ways in which we envision the future. Throughout the United States, there is great interest in establishing new public gardens and building the capacity of existing ones to provide accessible, documented, and educational facilities that serve to attract visitors, but perhaps more importantly, serve as guides to the kind of sustainable, rich, and beautiful world that we would like to build together for the future. Many of us have found that there is no more rewarding profession than that of public horticulture as a way in which individuals can contribute to the enrichment of life and the preservation of the diversity and beauty that it represents. We hope that many who are considering a profession in this area find this book a source of guidance and inspiration.

All life depends on plants. They provide all of our food, directly or indirectly, with just over one hundred kinds of plants responsible for more than 90 percent of the calories we consume. Plants provide most of the medicine used throughout the world, as well as building and other raw materials, and they will be the sources of many more kinds of products that we have yet to discover or recognize. Plants beautify and enrich our lives and give peace to our souls. All of these are reasons why public gardens as showcases for enjoying and learning about plants have become so very important with the passage of years and with the challenges that we face in the modern world.

The global population has tripled within my lifetime to its present level of more than 7 billion people. More than 2 billion more people are expected to be added during the next four decades, an unprecedented number that will pressure a world already drawing some 150 percent of its sustainable capacity, according to GlobalFootprint.org. Consumption levels per person are increasing even more rapidly than population numbers, and so is the proportion of people living in urban centers, which makes the need for public gardens, with their extraordinary ability to connect city dwellers with nature, all the more important. The United States, with the highest consumption rates in the world, is growing much more rapidly than the world as a whole; the 310 million of us now will increase to an estimated 440 million people by midcentury, with almost incalculable pressures on the environment resulting from this growth. We need public gardens and environmental awareness if we are to increase our ability to live as members of a world that can sustain us and everyone else on earth in a stable system.

In addition to direct pressures on habitats, the overharvesting of individual kinds of plants for particular purposes and the rampant spread of invasive alien plants and animals (such as garlic mustard, the emerald ash borer, and sudden oak death) in natural communities threatens their future. Global climate change, which has shifted the USDA established hardiness zones more than 150 miles northward over the past twenty years, is accelerating, and we seem to have limited ability to deal with it. Up to 40 percent of the endemic plants of California are projected to become extinct over the next several decades because of the elimination of their habitats. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that 20 to 40 percent of the world’s plants could disappear from nature during the course of this century because of global warming, with its attendant changes in precipitation levels and distribution. This makes the role of public gardens in direct conservation efforts, as well as in education, all the more important.

The many and diverse functions played by public gardens in different settings are laid out especially well in Chapter 1 of this volume, but conservation has sprung to the forefront because of the challenges that our native plants and native communities face in the twenty-first century. The Center for Plant Conservation, a network of botanical gardens and arboreta throughout the United States, works collaboratively for the conservation of our plant species in their native habitats, in public gardens, and in seed banks. Its efforts have never been more important for the future. Beyond the importance of preserving our native plants, we also have a responsibility to contribute to the conservation of all plants. It is estimated that the world’s public gardens hold more than 100,000 of the estimated 350,000 species of plants known worldwide—a rich endowment indeed, even if many of these species are represented by a single individual or too few individuals to constitute a genetically adequate sample. Public gardens, on their own or in cooperation with university departments of horticulture, are also prime sites for the maintenance of traditional cultivars of plants and the development and dissemination of new ones, all topics that are treated well in the pages of this text. The North American Plant Collections Consortium, supported by the American Public Gardens Association, represents a strong effort to coordinate and foster this aspect of our activities.

In view of the many and diverse ways that public gardens enrich our lives and facilitate our ability to envision a more complete and richer future than would be possible without them, it is a special pleasure to introduce this useful and accessible volume to its readers. I do so in the first instance by congratulating its authors, Don Rakow and Sharon Lee, for the fine work they have done drawing together a collection of useful and interesting chapters. With its examination of the functions that different gardens are playing and can play in their individual communities, this book will be of great use to the community of professionals and volunteers who are concerned with the presentation and management of public gardens and with the establishment of new ones. The book offers those of us who are responsible for the management of individual institutions much practical advice and guidance in the many aspects that add up to success in the very important field of endeavor that our public gardens represent.

The gardens in our care have the ability to heal our spirits in a troubled world and to lead us to envision a greater and nobler future for which we otherwise might not find time in the midst of our busy lives and the confused demands of the modern world.

PETER H. RAVEN

President, Missouri Botanical Garden

St. Louis, Missouri

PART I

Public Gardens and Their Significance

CHAPTER 1

What is a Public Garden?

DONALD A. RAKOW

Introduction

If a public garden is any space that has been laid out for public enjoyment, then the history of public gardens can be traced back across both continents and centuries to such luminary garden creators as the Chinese emperor Shen Nung (ca. 2800 BCE), Queen Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (ca. 1470 BCE), and the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BCE).

But in its modern context, a public garden is more than a property that holds a gathering of plants, even when those plants are laid out in an aesthetically pleasing manner. A public garden is both a physical presence that includes plant collections, buildings, and infrastructure and an organization that manages those elements and uses them to further its mission.

To answer the question posed by its title, this chapter will examine the essential criteria for a public garden, offer examples of the different kinds of institutions that meet those criteria, and identify the individuals and organizations that create public gardens and what motivates their efforts.

KEY TERMS

Curation: selecting, organizing, and looking after the objects in a collection.

Systematics: the branch of biology concerned with classification and nomenclature; taxonomy.

Accession: a new item added to a collection in a museum or library.

Accessioning: the act of adding a new item to a collection.

Herbaceous perennial: a plant whose growth dies down annually, but whose roots or other underground parts survive.

Woody plant: any plants with stems and limbs containing lignin; as trees, shrubs, vines.

Ethnobotany: the scientific study of traditional knowledge concerning the medical, religious, and agricultural uses of plants.

Dendrology: the scientific study of trees.

Basic research: research that is driven by a scientist’s curiosity or interest in a scientific question. The main motivation is to expand human knowledge, not to create or invent something.

Applied research: research that is designed to solve practical problems of the modern world, rather than to acquire knowledge for knowledge’s sake.

Mission statement: a concise statement that defines why an organization exists, what are its primary activities, and whom it serves.

Essential Criteria

In its essence, a public garden is a mission-based institution that maintains collections of plants for the purposes of education, research, conservation, and/or public display. It must have a system for maintaining plant records and professional staff. Further, it must be open to the public and provide accommodations for access to all people.

This definition is also useful in identifying what is not a public garden. A park may have beautiful ornamental plants and they may be well cared for by the maintenance staff. Likewise, amusement parks, shopping malls, and even hotels can have lovely and diverse plantings, and community gardens devoted to food production may be public. But such sites do not meet the essential criteria of being public gardens unless there is a mission statement driving their efforts and their plants are actively curated, that is, cared for as objects that are part of the collection of a living museum. Chapter 20 deals in depth with all that is involved with the curation of collections at a public garden.

Mission Statement

Whether it is being applied to a public garden or to a private corporation, a mission statement defines why an organization exists, what its primary activities are, and whom it serves. A public garden’s mission statement might focus on the types of collections it holds, how its collections are to be used, the focus of its programs and/or research, and who its primary audiences are. The mission statement should be the basis for all decisions and planning by the garden.

Plant Collections

Plant collections are fundamentally distinct from purely ornamental displays. Collections can be grouped either taxonomically (i.e., by family association), geographically (plants from one region of the world), functionally (groundcovers), or by plant needs (shade plants or plants for dry soil). One of the greatest challenges for public garden managers is how to merge the method by which collections are organized with the aesthetic goals of the garden.