A national garden conference sparks ideas for New Hanover Arboretum staff

I serve as the arboretum grounds maintenance supervisor and attended the American Public Gardens Association annual conference in Boston. It was another great conference filled with professionals from all areas of public garden administration, curation, and maintenance. This year’s theme was “Rooted in Resilience” which orbited around sustainable practices and how public gardens can weather the proverbial storm regarding climate change, financial security, and member engagement.

On Monday, June 24, I attended a tour of three botanical gardens throughout western Massachusetts and eastern New York, aptly named The Botanical Berkshires. First stop was Naumkeag, a 48-acre country estate of the Choate Family started in 1884. This garden offered excellent insight into some of the challenges historical estate gardens are faced with and how they can bridge the gap between history’s intent and the practicality of gardening in the 21st century. Next stop was the Berkshire Botanical Garden, one of New England’s oldest botanical gardens.

I left this garden with a renewed sense of what environmental education programs can and should be with dedicated spaces and invested infrastructure to facilitate engagement of youth and gardening. Lastly, the tour ended at Rockland Farm, a private estate envisioned by Ian and Madeline Hooper. These gardens were the epitome of making the most with the space you have. This garden likely had endless financial support to make it possible, but in visiting this garden, I was reminded that a garden is not static and to not be afraid of making changes especially if something has failed or is failing.

Tuesday through Thursday was packed full of speakers and presentations sharing their stories of success, failures, and everything in between. Tuesday focused on presentations about leadership and plant collections management. Wednesday focused more on living art where I came away with some great ideas for new garden spaces which may be useful during building redesign here at our arboretum and gardens. Also, a very good presentation by Arnold Arboretum, Chicago Botanic, and the National Arboretum on all things bonsai management and curation. The day was finished with learning of success and failure about team building and project management. Thursday held talks about managing meadow plantings and engagement practices around urban agriculture.

Friday, the Arnold Arboretum hosted an open house for all conference attendees interested. I was able to meander a little less than half of the 280-acre, world renowned tree collections. Words cannot describe the forethought the originators had to envision such a place. Some insightful conversations were had with their bonsai curator where I gained a lot of information on bonsai care, collections, and security of bonsai facilities.

The conference was filled with so many professionals in the industry, all who were happy and willing to share stories of success and failure. Next year’s conference will be held in Denver – I can’t wait!

Kevin Cassel serves as the grounds supervisor for the New Hanover County Arboretum, located at 6206 Oleander Drive in Wilmington, N.C. He can be reached at [email protected] or 910-798-7660. The gardens are free and open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: New Hanover Arboretum supervisor attends conference in Boston