2 0 1 4 A n n u a l Re p o r t | E n r i c h i n g t h e S m i t h s o n i a n ex p e r i e n c e s i n c e 1 9 7 2

Smithsonian Gardens

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Cover: The Heath Hen sculpture is part of The Lost Bird Project which seeks to create awareness about our fragile

bird species. The creation of artist Todd McGrain, the project has been sponsored by the Smithsonian and other

organizations. Four bird sculptures will remain in the Haupt Garden until spring 2015; a fifth bird is in the Urban

Bird Habitat at the National Museum of Natural History, on the corner of 12th Street and Constitution Avenue.

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Director’s Letter 4

Budget 6

Gardens 8

Exhibitions 12

Awards 14

Programs 16

Collections 18

Archives 20

Research 21

Support 22

Staff 24

Volunteers 26

Highlights 28

Ta b l e o f

C o n t e n t s

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F r o m t h e

D i r e c t o r

What a SERIOUSLY AMAZING year! Thanks to our remarkable staff and well-placed efforts, we’ve accomplished

significant benchmarks in public garden excellence. The North American Plant Collections Consortium accreditation,

Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection going “live” on the Smithsonian Collections Search Center, The Lost Bird

Project art exhibition, Audubon certification, and being named one of the Top 10 science Instagram accounts to follow

were some of the showiest feathers in our cap in 2014...and we’re just getting started! I hope you will enjoy looking

back with us on the many accomplishments of Smithsonian Gardens included in this our 2014 Annual Report.

In the future we look forward to launching the upcoming American Gardens Legacy exhibit, Pools, Patios, & the

Invention of the American Backyard. This exhibit will start its 5-year run in March 2015 through the Smithsonian

Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) program. It will be exciting to share our research about this

noteworthy time in American garden history with other centers of learning around the country.

2015 will also mark the end of our current Strategic Plan and the planning for our next 5 year plan. With the help of

the entire Smithsonian Gardens’ team, I look forward to developing another strong plan that will continue to guide us in

fulfilling our mission of enriching the Smithsonian experience through exceptional gardens, horticultural exhibits,

collections, and education.

I know you will agree that Smithsonian Gardens is a grand organization. We are grateful to all of you who supported

the good work we accomplished in 2014. We will be counting on you to help us make 2015 another SERIOUSLY

AMAZING year.

Barbara W. Faust

Associate Director, Smithsonian Gardens

Barbara Faust, with Mary Kent of the Garden Club of America,

signing a deed of gift for garden documentation from the GCA

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OUR MISSION

Enriching the Smithsonian experience through exceptional gardens, horticultural exhibits, collections, and education

Bulbophyllum blumei

Blume’s Bulbophyllum Orchid

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B u d g e t

Endowments, Royalties, Grants and Donations FY2014

Endowment Payout for Programs and Operations $485,068.00

Urban Bird Habitat Grant: Smithsonian Women’s Committee $ 31,389.00

Donations and Honorariums $ 31,145.00

Receipts from License Royalties $ 22,823.00

Youth Access Planning Grant $ 18,100.00

Funding from Garden Club of America to host two interns $ 6,200.00

Funding from the Katzenberger Foundation to host an intern $ 5,500.00

Total $600,225.00

Smithsonian Gardens Federal Appropriation FY2014

$5.7M

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During the winter of 2013/14, Smithsonian

Gardens cleared over 30” of snow, double the

normal average for Washington, D.C.

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G a r d e n s

Smithsonian Gardens’ landscape architect, arborist, and supervisory horticulturist worked closely

with landscape contractors and representatives from the landscape architect firm GGN to select 106

specimen trees from 7 nurseries in four different states for the National Museum of African American

History and Culture project. Carefully chosen for optimal habit, form, health, and vigor, these trees

will be installed in the fall of 2015 as part of the permanent planting scheme of the museum.

Landscape Progress

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Remembrance Poppies

In April, Smithsonian Gardens was granted approval to implement a no smoking policy in several gardens. The Haupt, Ripley and Folger Rose Gardens now join the NMAI landscape and the National Zoological Park in broadening no smoking to exterior spaces.

A corn poppies (Papaver rhoeas ‘American

Legion’) program was created to

commemorate the 100th anniversary of

World War I. The red flower has become

an international symbol of remembrance of

those who have died in war. Local U.S.

Marine Corps volunteers were part of the

planting; they helped horticulturists sow the

seed mixture over the south lawn of the

National Museum of American History in

an ongoing effort to interpret American

history through plants. The expectation is

that these poppies will bloom to coincide

with Memorial Day 2015.

2014 brought an enormous challenge to the interior plant staff of Smithsonian Gardens: the replacement of two 25-foot black olive trees and one 35-foot Ficus rubignosa in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This 10-day operation involved a phenomenal amount of coordi-nation with the Museums’ staff, facilities staff and contractors. 908 cubic feet of soil along with the existing plantings were removed and planters were inspected for leaks. Three new black olive trees and 180 understory plants were reinstalled.

No Smoking!

Courtyard Renovation

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G a r d e n s

Smithsonian Gardens staff enhances the

museums’ gardens and interior spaces

each year with seasonal holiday decora-

tions. Our interior displays include large

evergreen and artificial trees along with

820 yards of garland, 30+ wreaths and

over 750 Smithsonian-grown poinsettias.

Hand-made decorations constructed from

natural materials are featured throughout

the gardens as well as festive lighting.

Installing the holiday displays requires

coordination with multiple Smithsonian

divisions; reimbursements from the

museums provide the funding. This year

SG participated with Smithsonian Enter-

prises, the National Museum of Natural

History and the National Museum of

American History in the planning of the first

Smithsonian’s Holiday Festival Weekend.

The festival featured musical

performances, film screenings, book

signings, trunk shows, children’s activities

and additional holiday decorations within

the museums all to get visitors in the

holiday spirit.

Holiday

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Smithsonian Gardens supported this year’s Folklife Festival by

providing guidance on the initial site plans, supplying tropical

foliage plants for the Kenya and China programs, managing the restoration of the Marketplace site at NMAH, and providing equipment that was used to

maintain the National Mall site during the duration of the festival.

Smithsonian Gardens is pleased to announce the

publication of its first gardening book, Encyclopedia of

Garden Plants for Every Location, featuring more than

3,000 plant recommendations to handle a variety of

garden conditions. It was published by DK Publishing

in collaboration with Smithsonian Books and

Smithsonian Gardens. James Gagliardi, lead

horticulturist at NMNH, served as editor for this

comprehensive gardening book.

To find out more about the book visit

www.gardens.si.edu/book

Smithsonian Gardens has been noticing some unexpected garden tourists lately, thanks to an influx of geocachers to the Butterfly Habitat Garden at the National Museum of Natural

History. Geocaching is a popular hobby in which participants follow online clues and GPS coordinates to find “caches” where they can log their visits. Thanks to a hidden cache near Smith-sonian Gardens’ oldest living collection item, an Elm tree that predates the Natural History Museum, geocachers have found

themselves unexpectedly immersed in garden spaces and have enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about American Elms.

To date, the cache has been found 1,341 times and has 209 favorite points. The cache page (www.geocaching.com/

geocache/GC3QMEP_elm-tree-1-smithsonian-nmnh-geotour) has 10,383 views from geocachers from 67 countries, and that

number grows every day! Geocaching

First Gardening Book

Folklife Festival

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E x h i b i t i o n s

Smithsonian Gardens and Smithsonian Libraries were pleased to present The

Lost Bird Project, an outdoor exhibit by artist Todd McGrain, through May 11, 2015.

Five large-scale bronze sculptures of extinct North American birds were displayed in

the gardens. Four sculptures were located in the Enid A. Haupt Garden’s parterre.

The Passenger Pigeon statue landed in the Urban Bird Habitat at the National Muse-

um of Natural History as a companion piece to the Smithsonian Libraries’ exhibit Once

There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America which opened June 24, 2014

and will end October 2015.

THE LOST BIRD PROJECT

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Modern Day Extinction

The Lost Bird Project recognizes the tragedy of modern extinction by

immortalizing North American birds that have been driven to extinction.

To date, bronze memorials have been dedicated to the Passenger

Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet, Labrador Duck, Great Auk, and Heath

Hen. These sculptures compel us to recognize the finality of our loss.

They ask us not to forget, and they remind us of our duty to prevent

further extinction. Extinction of animals, plants, and other organisms

caused by human actions can often be credited to habitat destruction

resulting from deforestation and pollution. Excessive hunting and

fishing, the introduction of non-native species, and the transmission of

diseases are also contributing factors.

THE LOST BIRD PROJECT

Installation

Smithsonian Gardens staff

played an integral role in

The Lost Bird Project sculpture

installation as well as the exhibit

design and implementation. The

sculptures arrived on a cold

morning in March, wrapped and

staged on a flatbed truck. SG

staff assisted with moving the

sculptures via a forklift,

excavating the planting beds in

the gardens to receive the

sculptures (which were attached

to an I-beam support system)

and re-creating the beds around

the newly installed sculptures.

SG staff also designed the inter-

pretive signage in-house,

contracting for its fabrication,

but accomplishing the installa-

tion in-house as well. Finally, SG

put together a mobile phone

tour, using narratives from the

sculptor, so that visitors could

hear first-hand about the

history of these birds as well as

the artistic process employed in

the creation of these stirring

artworks.

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A w a r d s

The Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection

received accreditation from the North American

Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC) in

January 2014, making it the first member of the

Orchidaceae tropical species curatorial group.

The conferral of this award indicates Smithson-

ian Gardens’ dedication to orchid conservation

and high collections management standards.

Smithsonian Gardens strives to cultivate an

extremely diverse array of orchids from all over

the world. Not only are new acquisitions

selected carefully based on their display

quality, educational value, beauty, rarity and

how they complement our present collection,

but consideration is also given to how new

additions will further the efforts of NAPCC.

Angreacum germinyanum

Germiny's Angraecum Orchid

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S trengthening its commitment to environmental management and sustainability, Smithsonian

Gardens has joined Audubon International’s Cooperative Sanctuary Program. This ed-

ucational and certification program designates a high level of environmental stewardship.

To become certified, Smithsonian Gardens staff developed, implemented, and documented the

results of an environmental management plan in 5 key areas:

Site assessment and environmental planning

Wildlife and habitat management

Water conservation

Resource management

Outreach and education

Certification was achieved by SG after demonstrating that it met (or exceeded) Audubon Interna-

tional’s environmental management standards in all five areas. Smithsonian Gardens had already

implemented several management practices required for certification including using water con-

servation technologies, recycling, composting, implementing an integrated pest management

program, and educational training, so meeting the criteria set forth by Audubon was an obtainable

goal. Working with Audubon International will help Smithsonian Gardens find new projects to

enhance its urban wildlife habitat and conserve natural resources.

Wildlife Sanctuary

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P ro g ra m s

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE! This year’s Garden Fest took place in conjunction with both National Public Gardens Day and Drinking Water Week to promote the importance of public gardens, the value of water, and the availability of clean, safe water. The festival featured popular activities such as a Container Contest, an art project where participants created hanging planters out of recycled water bottles, Fold the Flock origami to remember the passenger pigeon, and many more. The Smithsonian Gardens Green Team provided ‘Garbage to Garden’ activities for both children and children-at-heart that focused on conservation in the garden. Team members taught us how to compost and re-use kitchen scraps to grow new plants and drew attention to the importance of water and how we can conserve it in the garden! A tour of The Lost Bird Project sculpture series in the Enid A. Haupt Garden was led by the art-ist Todd McGrain. Bay Jazz Project provided musical entertainment throughout the day.

Garden Fest

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Smithsonian Gardens and the National Museum of American History co-hosted another highly

successful Food in the Garden series in the Victory Garden. FOOD in the Garden 2014 explored

four maritime regions where battles were waged during the War of 1812: Long Island Sound, the

Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. In continued celebration of the Star

Spangled Banner’s 200th anniversary, 200 years of connections between land and water, and peo-

ple and food provided topics of conversation for attendees while they enjoyed food and drinks in a

relaxed garden atmosphere Thursday evenings in September.

Over the course of five weeks, more

than 600 participants attended

weekly evening panel discussions,

thematic demonstrations, and

garden tours.

The program was made possible by

the generous support of DuPont

Pioneer, The Julia Child Foundation

for Gastronomy and the Culinary

Arts, and Wegmans.

Food in the Garden

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C o l l e c t i o n s

As part of a new social media project,

Smithsonian Gardens launched an exciting

initiative by the name of ‘Community of Gardens’

that seeks to capture garden stories online.

Everyone is welcome to add their own garden

story to the site.

For more information, please visit:

www.communityofgardens.si.edu/

In April, the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection (SGOC)

went live on the Smithsonian Collections Search Center

(CSC). The Smithsonian CSC is an online catalog containing

thousands of Smithsonian collections from our museums,

archives, libraries, and research units. There are 8.1 million catalog records relating to areas for Art

& Design, History & Culture, and Science & Technology with 860,477 images, videos, audio files,

podcasts, blog posts and electronic journals. SG’s 8,433 orchid specimens comprise the first living

collection to join the multitudes of objects, specimens, and archival records that are contained with-

in the site. SGOC records contain basic information about each accession such as scientific name,

flower color, range, taxonomy, and available photos. SGOC’s presence on the Collections Search

Center has served as motivation to improve the quality and completeness of SGOC collection

records in BG-BASE and correct plant identification errors. The hope is that these online records

can be a resource for educators, students, researchers and curious individuals, and a source of

orchid inspiration year-round.

Share Your Story

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Smithsonian Gardens’ terrestrial orchids received quite a

boost in numbers. Collection managers Tom Mirenda and

Sarah Hedean acquired Paphiopedilums and

Phragmipediums. They found many valuable additions for

the collection, including a blooming-size Phragmipedium

kovachii and several associated hybrids. We will hopefully

see these spectacular kovachii flowers within a year.

Additional Phragmipediums were obtained, including

Phragmipedium brasiliense, Phragmipedium boisserianum

and Phragmipedium sargentianum. All three species are

new to the collection.

Greg Huse graduated from the University of

Vermont with a Bachelor of Science in Forest Re-

source Management. He started his career as a

consulting forester in New Jersey, then joined

Bartlett Tree Experts and later SavATree in

Connecticut. In 2007, Greg took a sabbatical to

thru-hike the Appalachian Trail for six months.

In 2011, he joined Smithsonian Gardens as its

Arborist & Tree Collection Manager with

Smithsonian Gardens.

PROFILES: GREG HUSE

A complete tree risk and health assessment was performed on every

tree in the collection at all of Smithsonian Gardens’ downtown locations.

This generated a priority list of the maintenance and special monitoring

needs for each tree. Assessments were started at the Anacostia

Community Museum and at the Smithsonian’s support facilities in

Suitland, MD.

In May, the Smithsonian, the Deputy Under Secretary for Collections

and Interdisciplinary Support, and the Smithsonian Collections

Emergency Management Working Group recognized Smithsonian

Gardens for its emergency preparedness involving the tree collection.

Orchid Collection

Tree Collection

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A r c h i v e s

H undreds of letters written in 1924 in re-

sponse to a “What Burpee’s Seeds Have

Done for Me” contest that are included in

the W. Atlee Burpee & Company Collection at

the Archives of American Gardens were scanned

and uploaded to the website resource, Smithson-

ian Transcription Center. ‘Digital volunteers’

transcribed the handwritten and typed letters so

that they can be more easily searched and

accessed for research purposes. An invaluable

resource, the letters tell stories by and about the

average home gardener in the U.S. during the first

quarter of the 20th century.

Archives of American Gardens’

holdings include over 100,000

images of historic and contempo-

rary gardens. These images come

from literally thousands of different

sources and were not always

accompanied by basic information

(such as owner or location) that

would identify them. Without this fundamental data, these

images lose much of their informational value. To date,

scores have been identified, but a staggering amount still

need information.

Our goal is to capture America’s garden history

before it’s too late!

HELP SOLVE A MYSTERY !

Smithsonian Transcription Center

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Re s e a rc h

Native Orchid

Cultivation Trial

The orchid collection staff is

working with the North

American Orchid Conserva-

tion Center to determine the

best growing techniques for

endangered native orchids

such as Cypripediums and

Platanthera. Earlier this

year staff members

travelled to several sites to

collect mycorrhizal fungi

from wild populations for

extraction, identification,

fungal banking, and

eventual use for seed

germination and nutritional

enhancement of cultivation

beds in the future.

Two scholars were recipients of the Enid A.

Haupt Fellowship in 2014. Dr. Lisa Horth, an

Associate Professor of Biology at Old Domin-

ion University, conducted research on plant-

pollinator interactions by analyzing visual cues

in orchids at Smithsonian Gardens. Specifical-

ly, she is evaluating ultraviolet signals in

flowers that are visible to bees, butterflies and

other pollinators (like hummingbirds) but

invisible to humans. One question her research will address is when

we hybridize species to create beautiful horticultural specimens, do we

ignore and possibly unintentionally alter – ultraviolet patterns that

pollinators use as cues to find resources like nectar and pollen.

University of Michigan doctoral candidate Joe Cialdella was the

second Fellow. While in residence, Joe’s research project focused on

"Gardens in the City: How Gardens Changed Communities,

Landscapes and Public Spaces in American Cities in the Past and

Present." His dissertation title is: "Landscape of Ruin and Repair: A

Cultural History of Environmental Change in the Rustbelt." Joe’s

dissertation examines the cultural meaning of landscape change in

"rustbelt" cities such as Detroit, Michigan. Using historic methodology,

he analyzed how community gardens and parks functioned as

important public spaces central to the cultural life and livelihood of

American cities from the late 19th century to the present.

THE

ENID A. HAUPT

FELLOWSHIP

IN

HORTICULTURE

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S u p p o r t

T his year, Smithsonian Gardens dedicated a lovely

garden area within the Mary Livingston Ripley

Garden in honor of Richard Brian Anderson. This

gift was made possible through a generous donation by

William (Bill) Logan Hopkins. Through the years, Richard

and Bill considered the Ripley Garden their “special”

garden, spending time enjoying its beauty of the garden,

and gleaning planting ideas and inspiration for their own

garden. We are most grateful for this thoughtful gift and

look forward to using it to enhance the beauty of the

Ripley Garden for the benefit of all who visit.

Through the years, generous donors have contributed to

the beautification of the Smithsonian campus with every-

thing from benches memorializing individuals with a love

of gardens to endowments established to design, install

and maintain the Smithsonian gardens. Gifts to Smith-

sonian Gardens have often served as catalysts for new

projects and provide opportunities to fully realize our

vision for Smithsonian Gardens where the museum

experience is extended in a public garden setting, inspiring

visitors with innovative displays and educating about horti-

culture, plants, the natural environment and artistic design.

Interested in helping Smithsonian Gardens do more?

Visit www.si.edu/giving/ways-to-give

or contact gardens@si.edu

DONOR SPOTLIGHT AN EXTRAORDINARY GIFT

FROM BILL HOPKINS IN HONOR OF RICHARD ANDERSON

Barbara Faust with Mr. Bill Hopkins (seated) at Food

in the Garden discussing vegetable gardening with

horticulturist Joe Brunetti.

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Hundreds of garden slides (see below) dating from the 1950s and 1960s taken by Garden Club of America (GCA) member Adelaide Pratt of the Chestnut Hill (MA) Garden Club were donated by the GCA Archives to the Archives of American Gardens (AAG).

Garden designer Lois W. Poinier donated a scrapbook of images documenting her and her mother’s own gardens in New Jersey. The images span several decades and show in great detail how the gardens evolved over time. The scrapbook has been added to the Lois W. Poinier Collection already at AAG that includes images of Mrs. Poinier’s design work and historic glass lantern slides used for lecture purposes.

Garden designer Mary Riley Smith donated her collection of design files to AAG. Her work includes numerous rooftop gardens in Manhattan as well as public spaces such as St. John the Divine and the Colony Club in NYC. Her 1992 book, The Front Garden: New Approaches to Landscape Design, features several of her designs.

Four species of Pterostylis in the form of bulbs were donated to the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection. These propagules are from orchids that won the highest possible score from the American Orchid Society for specimen plants (99 points). Since these are colony-forming species, these propagules will be clones of the highly-awarded individuals. Several bulbs of a Diuris hybrid were also received with this collection.

Smithsonian Gardens is grateful for continued

support from the Smithsonian Women’s

Committee, which came this year in the form

of a second grant to fund additional work in

the Urban Bird Habitat. This year’s grant

funded the expansion and completion of the

garden and the addition of interpretive

signage. Phase II garden enhancement

included the planting of over 30 native trees

and countless native shrubs and perennials to

add multi-season interest and important habitat components for migratory and native D.C. birds. The

completion of Phase II also connected the endcaps of the garden, thus providing contiguous habitat

along the entire south and west sides of the National Museum of Natural History.

Grants

Acquisitions

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S t a f f

Born and raised in Nebraska, Debra earned her Bachelor’s degree in Horticulture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. During her career she’s worked for lawn care services, a botanical garden, in research, and wholesale greenhouses. For the last six years, Debra has taken a side track, growing the minds of youth instead of plants, while working as a 4-H program coordinator for UNL. We are delighted to have Debra as our new horticulturist for the Butterfly Pavilion at the National Museum of Natural History.

WELCOME: DEBRA AUSTEN

Dedication

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In December, AAG staff received the Smithsonian

Secretary’s Awards for Excellence in the Digital

Enterprise category along with five other units who were all

part of a Rapid Capture Pilot Team coordinated by SI’s

Digitization Program Office. According to the citation, “This

group enhanced the ability of the Smithsonian to digitize

collections efficiently and share them with the world. Rapid

capture projects optimize physical and digital workflow by

harmonizing speed with object safety and quality imaging.

These projects have demonstrated a dramatic increase in

productivity.”

Jeff Schneider, Grounds Manager, was recognized as a

2014 Employee of the Year by the Director of the Office of

Facilities Engineering and Operations (OFEO).

Jonathan Kavalier, Supervisory Horticulturist, completed

the Certified Grounds Manager (CGM) program, developed

by the Professional Grounds Management Society. It is the

premier program of its type in the Green Industry.

Sarah Hedean and Jonathan Kavalier completed the

Smithsonian’s Emerging Leader Development Program, a

pilot mentorship program to develop rising stars in the

Institution.

Sarah Hedean, Vickie DiBella, Tom Mirenda and

Cheyenne Kim received a 2014 OFEO Director’s

Employee of the Year award in recognition of their work on

achieving NAPCC certification for the Smithsonian Gardens

Orchid Collection.

Brett McNish, Supervisory Horticulturist, received the

National Museum of American History’s Rodris Roth

Memorial Prize for his peer lecture at the Conference on

Salt.

Mike Allen

Debra Austen

Joseph Brice

Cindy Brown

Thomas Brown

Joe Brunetti

Matt Burch

Erin Clark

Joyce Connolly

Francis Cooper

Kelly Crawford

Joe Curley

Graham Davis

Alexander Dencker

Vickie DiBella

Allison Dineen

Kurt Donaldson

William Donnelly

Janet Draper

Randy Dudley

Barbara Faust

Matt Fleming

James Gagliardi

Vanessa Garner

Shelley Gaskins

Jill Gonzalez

Michael Guetig

Tom Hattaway

Paula Healy

Sarah Hedean

Kevin Hill

Shannon Hill

Stan Hilton

Monty Holmes

Meredith Hubel

Greg Huse

Sean Jones

Jonathan Kavalier

Cheyenne Kim

Ed Kunickis

Joel Lemp

Sherri Manning

Brett McNish

Tom Mirenda

George Morgan

Darlene Price

Christine Price-Abelow

Melanie Pyle

Michael Riordan

Daniel Russell

Jeff Schneider

Rick Shilling

Jeff Smith

Alex Thompson

Sarah Tietbohl

*New Addition

*Resigned

*Retired

SG welcomed Matt Burch as its new horticulturist at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Matt comes to us by way of the National Park Service where he was a gardener at the White House, working primarily in the First Lady’s vegetable garden. Matt also owns an organic farm in the Winchester, VA area. Additionally, Matt served in the United States Marine Corps, and has a Bachelor of Science degree from West Virginia University with a major in Horticulture and a minor in Floriculture.

WELCOME: MATT BURCH

Recognition 2014 Staff

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Vo l u n t e e rs

In 1994 Smithsonian Gardens (then the Horticulture Services Division) joined forces for the first time with the horti-

cultural institutions, public gardens and arboreta in the Washington Metropolitan Area to honor our most valuable

resource, our volunteers. During National Volunteer Week in 1994, a special day at the U.S. National Arboretum

was organized to thank the many volunteers who donated countless hours supporting our institutions and programs.

2014 marked 20 years of this collective celebration of our public garden volunteers. This momentous occasion was

once again marked by an Appreciation Day held at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. “20 Years of

Celebrating Volunteers” was organized by the Horticultural Consortium of the Greater Washington Area, which

invited our volunteers from D.C. area public gardens for an evening of good food, presentations, tours, door prizes

and fun.

The enthusiasm and dedication of this most valuable resource—our volunteers—inspire the Institution, staff, and

visitors each day. Smithsonian Gardens couldn’t achieve what it does without the support of our volunteers. We

look forward to celebrating the next 20 years with this devoted and talented group of individuals!

20 Years of Appreciation

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Sonia Agosto

Terry Anderson

Ann Balch

Doris Balinsky

Patricia Bendorf

Sandra Blake

Laszlo Bockh

Nancy Bort

Paulina Donna Brandes

Christopher Brook

Susan Bruns

Shahla Butler

Casey Kneipp

Sandra Chacko

Joseph Cialdella

Eugene Cross

Patricia Cunniff

Loretta d'Eustachio

Shruti Dube

Denise Fayne

Lorraine Fishback

Lynn Furrow

Shilpa Gadwal

Federica Galli

Thomas Garnett

Lynda Garnett

Donice Gilliland

Linda Greensfelder

Eva Griffeth

Arvind Gupta

Shyama Haniffa

Anne Hardman

Heather Hare

Julie Harless

Joan Havens

Jamie Ann Hester

Lynne Hirschfeld

Gail Hodge

Henry Hu

Johanna Janukatys

Heidi Johnson

Peter Karvellas

Joan Keenan

Maryam Keleshame

Eva Lanyi

Judith Lesser

Taylor Lockett

Philip Maggi

Jeanne Maloney

Norman Marks

Nancy McGuire

Merril Mille

Susan Miller

Patricia Mink

George Morgan

Audrey Morris

William Peters

Carol Pihlstrom

Bruce Pihlstrom

Nina Pitkin

Serenity Purcell

Annette Ramirez de Arellano

Bryan Ramsay

Stephen Robinson

Christine Rose

Linda Rosenfeld

Nancy Sahli

Michael Salapka

Christina Schreiner

Carol Schremp

Jane Simpson

Manjeet Singh

Martha Smith

Robert Sullivan

Diane Svenonius

Pat Taylor

Elizabeth Trangsrud

Marcy Wasilewski

Laurel Wessman

Lynn White

Marca Woodhams

INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING? Smithsonian Gardens is a wonderful place to make a

meaningful contribution, form new friendships, learn new skills, and have fun. You'll find choices to

suit your interests, talents, and abilities. Specialized training will be offered to prepare you for your

volunteer role. In other cases, prior experience may be necessary. If this is of interest to you,

please contact gardenvolunteers@si.edu or visit www.gardens.si.edu/get-involved/volunteers.html

2014 Volunteers

Volunteer Appreciation Day at the U.S. National Arboretum

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Living Collections

Orchids: 8,433

Trees: 1,901

Total New Accessions: 531

H i g h l i g h t s

Archives of American Gardens

Documented gardens in the U.S.: 7,500

Digitized images: 24,000

Number of collections: 42

Hand-colored glass lantern slides: 3,500

Earliest image: 1870s

Education

Programs: 82

Tours: 215

Attendees: 15,327

Interns

Total Interns: 11

Fellows: 2

New YES! Program interns: 2

Number of Universities Represented: 10

Staff

Full-time: 55

Part-time/Seasonal: 1

Administration

Individual purchases executed: 545

Budget Execution Rate: 99.8%

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Social Media

Voted a “Top 10 Science Museums

Instagram accounts to follow”

The most visited/shared/viewed blog of

all Smithsonian social media platforms:

A Century of Cherry Blossom Watches

Virtual Visitation

Website Visits: 119,252

International Visits: 35%

Facebook Likes: 4,288

Twitter Followers: 3,811

Instagram followers: 4,365

Pinterest followers: 2,235

Blog subscribers: 151

Volunteers

Individual Volunteers: 54

Total Hours Contributed: 3,502

Horticulture

Acres: 180

Acres Under Cultivation: 25

Greenhouses: 14 (53,000 sq. ft)

Bedding plants produced: 100,000

Sustainability

Composting: 240 cu. yds.

Recycling: 144 cu. yds. plastic pots

Fountain water savings: 43,000 gallons

Structural Pest Control

Work Orders completed: 157

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