Despite the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks having to scrap its Earth Day celebration set for April 25 and the Greening of the Garden event in May, the nonprofit organization’s annual plant sale benefit is still on. Online, that is. The sale, which opens at 9 a.m. April 27-29 for members and April 30-May 8 for the public, is just in time for burgeoning as well as experienced gardeners using time at home to cultivate their corner of the world.
Proceeds from the sale will help support the public garden, which is dedicated to education and environmental awareness and serves as a community destination for unique nature experiences. The garden welcomed some 80,000 visitors last year.
Community offerings at the garden include the Firefly Fling, Earth Day celebration, Yoga in the Garden, Butterfly Days, Terrific Tuesday Nights free summer concerts and the International Festival. The garden boasts 12 display gardens and the state’s only butterfly house.
Megan Lankford, horticulture supervisor, said this year’s sale will consist of more than 1,100 plants grown at the garden — a mix of perennials and annuals, many of them focused on pollinators such as bees and butterflies. “We’re excited to bring all these that we’ve been growing to support our native pollinators.” The selection will include more than 150 milkweed and other host plants for caterpillars “to support the entire life cycle.” Other available host plants will include Dutchman’s pipevine and bronze fennel.
Lankford said the group will be growing more vegetables this year that will then be donated to Seeds that Feed, which distributes fresh
produce to multiple churches and other food pantries in Northwest Arkansas.
The garden sees more than 18,000 schoolchildren each year through field trips, classes and programs like Little Sprouts and Garden Buds.
Little Sprouts is a weekly botanical-themed program for preschoolers that includes stories, songs, crafts and activities.
“Whether we are learning about how bees are more helpful than harmful, or exploring the garden with handmade binoculars, the children leave the garden with a real appreciation for the world around them and a new desire to protect it.”
Little Sprouts is free for garden members with a family membership. For nonmembers, there is no admission fee for children younger than 4. Admission for children 5 and older is $4 and $7 for adults accompanying the children.
Garden Buds, offered in the summer, is a weekly environmental education program for elementary school-aged children. “The program introduces children to nature and instills a sense of wonder and curiosity about their environment. The lessons encourage a sense of stewardship for the natural world and a love of the outdoors.”
Adult classes and workshops have covered such topics as mushroom cultivation, photography, qi gong, sustainability, horticulture conservation, rain barrels and propagation.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/Ben Goff)
Lindsay Ramsey from Kindness & Joy Toys in Fayetteville shows Gretchen Lens, 4, of Fayetteville how to make giant bubbles during the 2019 Firefly Fling at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville. The family festival featured a variety of games and activities, food trucks and live music followed by a fire dance performance after dark.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/J.T. Wampler)
Hazel Clevenger (left) laughs while looking at a book with Brooke Blanton, education and outreach assistant, during Little Sprouts at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/Andy Shupe)
Lee Witty, a horticulturist at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, plants caladium bulbs last month inside the garden’s greenhouse in Fayetteville.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/Ben Goff)
Atticus Caldarera (left) of Fort Smith, Charlie White and sister Nora White of Fayetteville look at a Madagascar hissing cockroach from the University of Arkansas Arthropod Museum during the 2019 Firefly Fling at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville. The family festival featured a variety of games and activities, food trucks and live music followed by a fire dance performance after dark.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/David Gottschalk)
A monarch butterfly rests on a flower as JoAnn McKim, a volunteer at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, speaks with third-grade students from The New School during Butterfly Days 2018 at the garden in Fayetteville. First- through third-grade students participated in the four-day event that corresponded with science and biology curriculum at the school and featured seven education stations about butterflies.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/J.T. Wampler)
Grets Molea (left) helps Pan Euper with her traditional Thai garb during the fourth annual International Festival at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks. Euper was preparing to perform a traditional Thai dance. The 2019 event featured interactive booths with displays and activities from different countries along with traditional dance and musical performances.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/Andy Shupe)
Jan Luecking (from left), Mary Droho, Susan Bearden, Dessie Wewers and Trish Nelson, all members of the Fayetteville International Folk Dancers, perform traditional dances for a large crowd during a previous International Celebration at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville. The event, the final Tyson Tuesday Nights event of the summer in 2017, featured performances, displays and information from more than a dozen countries.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/David Gottschalk)
Students in Karen Swalley’s third-grade class at Bernice Young Elementary School in Springdale reach out to touch the body of a butterfly held by Chris Bell, a “butterfly nanny” at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, during Butterfly Days 2019 at the garden in Fayetteville. The two-day event featured learning stations that covered subjects that included butterfly life cycles, structures and functions of insects.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/Ben Goff)
Guests move through yoga positions during Yoga in the Garden at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville. Certified yoga instructors from the Fayetteville Athletic Club lead the free sessions each Saturday, weather permitting, from May through September.