Challenges and Successes
Print
EmailThere are always challenges with a public garden, but many successes too!
There are always challenges in a public garden. You can expect the weather to be a problem at some point in nearly every year. This year it seems we’ve had to send our student labor home early due to excessive heat many more times than in previous years. And the severe storms that came through on August 24th damaged the fence that holds the VIP bee hotel (pictured above). That same storm also felled four of our arborvitaes (pictured right) that are west of the Trial Gardens, in between the staff parking lot and the Annual Trials Garden. Those have been removed and will likely new ones will be replanted.
Another challenge is critters. This year the deer and rabbits have especially been problematic in our Very Important Pollinator (VIP) Garden. Pictured right are three deer and a rabbit together, just west of the VIP garden.
One of our sculptures was experiencing its own challenge of extensive degradation (pictured bottom left). However, we've successfully overcome this problem! The Liberty Hyde Bailey sculpture was successfully restored this summer by a Michigan artist (pictured bottom right). Our CrowdPower campaign raised 30% of the funds for this project. Thank you to those who donated!
