Yet, every day, the Chicago Botanic Garden nurtures people in ways not easily quantified. In 2013 Garden visitors listened, nodded, and danced to the varied rhythms of our musical programs. They experienced the joy of art, through Garden exhibitions and classes, through events like the Antiques & Garden Fair and the Art Festival, and through the Garden’s compelling design and horticultural excellence. People walked the Garden paths every single day in 2013, from dawn to past dusk, appreciating the Garden’s beauty, accessibility, and safety in all seasons, and increasing well-being with every step. The powerful healing effects of plants provided skills and comfort to veterans, people along the autism spectrum, and low-vision participants in the Garden’s horticultural therapy programs. Part of nurturing and being nurtured is listening. At the Chicago Botanic Garden, we can literally listen to the sounds of nature: the rustle of plants, the whisper of breezes, the trickle, spray, or bubble of water. Also, the Garden’s horticulturists and scientists listen to and monitor what plants and healthy ecosystems “tell” us they need to grow and thrive, and offer the care needed. On a larger scale, figuratively, the Garden is listening to the planet, helping to conserve, protect, and restore native habitats and the essential benefits they provide at home and around the globe. Further, Garden members have talked to us, and we have listened, and responded. In 2010, the Garden took a public stance on the subject of climate change and other critical environmental initiatives; last year, we offered new approaches to making science come alive in the classroom, developing a new curriculum that examines the impact of climate change, and becoming the nation’s first botanic garden to hold a virtual field trip through Google’s Connected Classrooms program.
How can we ensure that the Garden will continue to nurture plants and people into the future? I believe the answer rests in enhancing the ways we care for those who visit the Chicago Botanic Garden. After all, without our visitors—many of whom become active members, volunteers, employees, and donors like you—the Garden would not exist. We must continue to set and achieve goals—both those that are measurable as well as those that, though powerfully effective, don’t translate into statistics.
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