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| Photo Credit: David L. Morgan |
| Constructed in the 1930s, this beautiful arbor remains a cool, shady place to enjoy the garden. |
Have you ever seen an “outdoor library” of plants? That’s what Kathleen Cook calls her workplace. She’s the landscape design horticulturist at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden (FWBG) in Fort Worth, TX.
Kathleen has designed most of the display gardens at the FWBG in her 23 years there, a process she calls “guerilla education” for the local gardening public: Plants are labeled, handouts are placed in every display, tours are arranged, signage is current, and the biennial plant sales are a roaring success.
Located only a couple of miles from the city’s center, the FWBG is a popular midday respite for downtowners – and a great place to learn about plants and gardening. Want to learn how to grow vegetables? Prune roses? Save water? Choose the toughest perennials? Use native plants appropriately? Think taking data in a trial garden, assisting the plant propagator, weeding perennial beds or giving tours might be fun? There’s a place for you at the FWBG as a volunteer. And if you really know your stuff, you might even teach a class. The pay isn’t good, but the education is free.
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| Photo Credit: David L. Morgan |
| Signage, brochures and other self-teaching aids help gardeners of any age and skill learn more about the plants around them. |
And so is admission. Unlike many other public and private gardens, the FWBG doesn’t charge a fee – nada – to enter the grounds and take in all the horticulture you can absorb. (There are charges, however, for special events and the Japanese Garden.)
The FWBG is the oldest botanic garden in Texas, dating back to the Great Depression when the federal government taught unemployed workers to cut stones, lay cement and plant trees to build what was first known as Rock Springs Park. Most of the original, well-constructed beds and stonework survive and lend a quiet dignity and solid framework to the space. Since its opening in 1933, the FWBG has grown to 109 acres of gardens and natural settings, and the displays seem to be popping up as fast as Kathleen and her crew can design and install them.
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| Facts |
- Gail Manning, the garden’s education director and an entomologist, heads up a monarch butterfly watch program. She and her volunteers grow a butterfly garden where the flying travelers can stop for a healthy snack of butterfly milkweed (several Aesclepias species) on their way to Mexico to overwinter. They record and tag the monarchs, and when the butterflies arrive in Mexico, entomologists there are able to determine their flight patterns. (The program also has several Midwestern sites and is coordinated through the University of Kansas.)
- The focal point of the Japanese Garden is the Mikoshi, a work depicting Japanese culture patterned after the original said to have appeared in 749 AD. Now housed in a protective shelter, it was given to Fort Worth by its sister city, Nagaoka, Japan. According to Japanese beliefs, the presentation of the Mikoshi ensures a city’s citizens safe and peaceful homes, bountiful harvests and business prosperity.
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| Faqs |
- Q: Does the garden offer children’s education?
A: Yes, in fact it’s a specialty. The garden collaborates with local naturalist organizations and the 4th graders of Fort Worth Independent School District to maintain an orchard and grow vegetables, herbs and berries in a half-acre garden. All the produce is donated to the needy. - Q: What’s represented in The Japanese Garden?
A: The Japanese Garden is filled with symbolism and “reminders to guide our thoughts.” Its guide explains how three essentials can be found in the entrance gates, representing heaven, man and earth. Water is ever present, too, and even the five-story pagoda is built on symbolism: earth, water, fire, wind and sky.
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| Resources |
- You can find more information on the Fort Worth Botanic Garden online.
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