By Isabelle Flener
Monticello Sculpture Gardens recently announced the theme for the 2023 Garden Show. The theme is Discover.
“Lewis and Clark recently rebranded in December, and the tag line for LC is ‘Discover,’” said L&C Garden Designer and Horticulturist Katie Piper. “Therefore, we wanted to take the opportunity of Lewis and Clark rebranding to reintroduce ourselves to the community and get our name out there.”
This will be the tenth year of the garden show.
“The community and tourists absolutely love the summer garden show,” said Director of Development for the Lewis and Clark Community College Foundation Debby Edelman.
The gardens were established in 2012, as a signature garden of Missouri Botanical Gardens. In 2013, Lewis and Clark started hosting an annual garden show each year. The show features planted pocket gardens that are influenced by the chosen theme.
“We believe the gardens add so much to our campus, it accents all the beautiful architecture that we have on campus,” said Piper. “We feel it also enhances student life and the faculty and the staff, because when you step foot on campus you feel like you are at a four-year university.”
The Gardens also offer a Garden Club for students to learn about how to properly grow and take care of plants and gardens. Joel Barker has been a member of the Garden Club since it began two semesters ago.
“I used to have a garden when I was a kid with my family, and I thought it would be cool to start bringing home plants to my new house,” Barker said. “I have not gardened in well over a decade now and I am picking it back up like I never left thanks to this club. There’s peace to be found in taking care of something simple and watching it grow, especially if you make your own garden over time.”
The Garden Club does a variety of activities to get students in touch with plant life.
“We recently made a kind of hanging garden in a moss ball,” Barker said. “I cannot remember the name, but it is a traditional Japanese style of gardening and I found it interesting. I would highly recommend that others join the club. They will find that there is no such thing as not having a green thumb.”
The Garden Club is not the only way to get involved; opportunities to learn about the gardens are blooming in many directions.
“We are going to offer a lot more in our gardens than we have in the past, so essentially we are asking the community to discover Monticello Sculpture Gardens,” Piper said. “We are offering workdays once a month where volunteers, students, whoever wants to can come work with us. We will also be offering classes and workshops in the Gardens. That is something we are still working up a schedule for, but they will be very timely and seasonal following people’s gardens at that specific time of year. We will invite students, staff faculty and the public to come and work with us and learn things from beginner level to advance.”
The Garden Club meets biweekly on Tuesday and Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in the Greenhouse. Those with questions about Garden Club, the gardens or anything plant related can email Piper at kaepiper@lc.edu.
