Grower News

The big anniversary for the U.S. Botanic Garden comes as plants experience something of a millennial-driven moment. One of the lushest spots in Washington celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. The U.S. Botanic Garden , the oldest continuously operating botanic garden in the country, opened a new exhibit this week in honor of its bicentennial. “We’re tracing back to our roots,” said the garden’s executive director, Saharah Moon Chapotin (pun intended, assumedly), during a tour of the two-gallery show. The exhibit explores the establishment of the nation’s botanic garden, which dates back to the time of the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both supported the idea for a national garden, and George Washington wrote a letter in October 1796 pointing out a possible location for a botanical garden within Pierre L’Enfant’s plan for the fledgling city. The garden used to be housed in a conservatory at 480 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. The first iteration of the Botanic Garden opened in 1820 on a five-acre parcel of land on the western side of the Capitol building. But the group of private citizens that ran it faltered financially, and it was dismantled by the late 1830s. It was tough timing: The federal government needed a place to store and display thousands of plant samples and live plants from a U.S. Exploring Expedition that had just returned from a global tour. (The anniversary exhibit includes models of three of those exploration ships, on loan from the Navy). Congress allocated funds for a new facility near the Capitol and opened its doors in 1850. Remarkably, four plants from the original U.S. Exploring Expedition are still on display today. The garden moved into its current glass-enclosed facility in 1933 during a massive reorganization of the area around the National Mall. Two women stood in the Botanic Garden’s Palm Promenade on July 19, 1898. Today, the garden is perhaps best known for its wintertime poinsettia display, orchid collection, and the corpse flower, one of the s melliest tourist attractions in the city. The anniversary exhibit includes a box that masochistic visitors can stick their […]

Source: dcist.com