m a ki n g a d i ffe re n ce
The New Orleans Botanical Garden A perennial favorite By Marilee Hovet
If asked to choose the prettiest spot in New Orleans, I would unquestionably pick the New Orleans Botanical Garden at City Park. To visit the garden on one of those unbearably beautiful New Orleans days is unforgettable. Even for those who don’t know a hydrangea from an azalea, it’s a great way to spend a few hours or more. The garden opened in 1936 as the City Park Rose Garden. Shortly thereafter, the Works Progress Administration stepped in to fund what would become New Orleans’ first public access classical garden. With architect Richard Koch, landscape architect William Wiedorn and noted MexicanAmerican sculptor Enrique Alferez as the visionaries behind the look of the garden, its design became an important example of the Art Deco style of the day. An auspicious beginning to be sure, but there would be difficult days ahead. Master Gardeners
Forty years after it opened, the garden was in utter disrepair – a forlorn and forgotten place. In what would become a pivotal point in New Orleans Botanical Garden history, Friends of City Park founder Peggy Read stepped in to begin the hard work of saving it. She hired Paul Soniat as Director, a post he still holds today, and this once-forgotten little garden in City Park began to grow. There
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is no question that the garden would not be what it is today without the efforts of the New Orleans Botanical Garden Foundation, Soniat and the inimitable Genevieve Trimble. Sometimes referred to as the “First Lady of Louisiana’s Gardens,” Trimble presided over the foundation’s Board for 25 years
and, to this day, hers is a guiding voice for the garden. (As an aside, Trimble’s garden at Afton Villa in St. Francisville is nothing short of magnificent; it’s open to the public and well worth the drive!) In the years since the renovations began, modifications continue to enhance the