| Atlanta President’s Message I first visited the Garden in 1984 as a young horticulturist working at Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City as part of a trip to gain ideas from botanical gardens of all sizes. The Atlanta garden was very young then – Gardenhouse was under construction, and the infamous trailer (the office) was the epicenter. I returned in 1989 and enjoyed my visit tremendously because the Garden had grown so much and the new Fuqua Conservatory had just opened. Never in my wildest imagination did I think that one day I would have the privilege of leading this remarkable garden – and come to know the wonderful Dottie Fuqua so well. Dottie was an avid gardener, a woman with a love of community, family and nature. She told me that one day, many years ago, she asked Ann Crammond, the first Garden Director, what it would take to make the Garden a four-seasons attraction that Atlantans would want to visit. Ann’s immediate response was a conservatory, and the rest is history. Dottie and her husband, businessman J.B. Fuqua, made a generous gift to enable the Garden to build the Fuqua Conservatory. Ann and the board, working with Dottie, recruited Ron Determann, a superb plantsman, to manage the Conservatory and start a collection of tropical plants worth showcasing and in need of conservation. Thirty years later, the Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory stands today as the hub of the Garden, inspiring guests while immersing them in remote and exotic places like Madagascar, New Caledonia and Costa Rica. Because of Dottie’s vision and generosity, the Conservatory enabled millions of visitors to learn about the beauty of plants, their remarkable adaptations to habitat and their importance to human kind. I’m reminded of a simple phrase, “Mother Nature does not need man, but man needs Mother Nature”. Dottie had a firm grasp on that importance of the plant world and our responsibility to protect it, and wanted her gift to convey that idea to all who visit – an estimated 7 million-plus by this anniversary. What an impact on our community and the world around us. Happy birthday to the Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory!
orchid daze Saturday, Feb. 1 – Sunday, April 12
Mary Pat Matheson The Anna and Hays Mershon President & CEO
| Official News Publication for Members of the Atlanta Botanical Garden | Atlanta | Gainesville Vice President, Marketing: Jessica Boatright | Editor: Danny Flanders | Designer: Bo Shell | Membership Manager: Claudia McDavid 2
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