As we strive to continue helping mission-driven organizations by championing leaders and building communities through collaboration, we wanted to share takeaways from a recent national horticulture conference sponsored by the American Public Gardens Association (APGA). The APGA Conference: CommUNITY of Gardens recently met for five days in Portland, Oregon from June 20th to 24th. Conference tracks included Plant Curation & Conservation, Horticulture, Garden Management, Public Engagement, Education, & Science. The in-person sessions were attended by 565 people, primarily from the United States and Canada.
We asked Allyson Zahm, Guest Experience Manager at ABQ BioPark, and Patrick MacRae, Doolittle Family Director of Gardens and Horticulture, to share their takeaways. You may be surprised (or not) at how closely these themes align with those we investigate within the zoo and aquarium industry. Please note that Patrick’s comments are in italics.
Each day of the conference featured inspiring tours to Portland’s beautiful parks and gardens, including the Hoyt Arboretum, Lan Su Chinese Garden, Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, Portland Japanese Garden, World Forestry Center, Oregon Zoo, Rogerson Clematis Garden, and the Portland Rose Test Garden.
With public horticulture at the heart of the conference, attendees from a wide variety of facilities shared many of the same challenges and opportunities. We hope that our conference takeaways will provide inspiration for leaders and practitioners at public gardens, zoos, aquariums, museums, theme parks, and more.
THEMES
IDEA – Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility
By their very nature, public gardens are for every single person. Gardens should strategize IDEA initiatives and be deliberate about goals and outcomes. Public gardens should be welcoming, safe, and instill a sense of belonging. One-time successes must be turned into long-term institutional practices.
Community members are essential stakeholders that should help define what inclusion looks like. It was cautioned that many well-intentioned efforts to be inclusive still involve trying to assimilate people to current ways of thinking. The exchange of culture through public gardens contributes to a greater understanding of diverse cultures, art, design, and ways of connecting with nature.
Of the staff working in public gardens, 91% are white. As we work to serve diverse communities, we must look inward to make sure our staff, especially leadership, represent the audience we strive to engage.
“There seems to be a renewed energy—possibly as an outgrowth of our industry’s movement towards being more active leaders in diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion—around the idea that public gardens are uniquely suited, on their own and through strategic partnerships, to positively impact social, spiritual, emotional, physical, and environmental wellbeing. The interesting thing is that there is abundant scientific evidence that quantifies the benefit of access to garden spaces. What we’ve always known intuitively can be backed up through research. I imagine that this will continue to evolve as a compelling and competitive avenue for funding and programmatic development.”
Horticulture
Time and resources are often finite, resulting in many important tasks being completed “when there is spare time.” Setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T.) goals can assist organizations in prioritizing tasks that would otherwise be secondary in nature. In the context of public horticulture, these secondary tasks are often plant collection records and associated conservation efforts, or development and implementation of a tree risk management plan, for example. By conducting periodic Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, an organization is afforded the opportunity to take an honest assessment of resources, staff capacity, and realignment of goals to further an organization’s mission and vision.
Furthermore, the exchange of culture, art, and design through public gardens can help contribute to one’s connection to nature.
“It’s easy to forget that as public gardens professionals, we have access, every single day, to a dose of nature Rx. If we remember to poke our heads up from our work, and go outside and enjoy our gardens, we’ll reap the benefits of all that we sow.”
Leadership
It’s imperative for garden leaders to invest in their staff. Internal communication is essential for employee engagement, and leaders should be committed to 360⁰ feedback, regular check-ins, and formal assessments. When combined with the power of a long-term vision, effective and passionate communication can inspire transformational change throughout an organization.
Managers must also be the models of core values. When core values are driven by internal teams, they should be felt by external stakeholders.
“The overwhelming takeaway is that we’re all here because we’re passionate about the capacity of public gardens to be levers that change the world…If we remember to ground ourselves in the special and fortunate positions that we hold within our institutions, our work will benefit from the very thing that we’re creating for the rest of the community.”
