CommUNITY of Gardens | Reflections from the APGA 2022 Annual Conference

IrisBG had the privilege to be a sponsor and attend in-person this year with the 565 attendees from around the United States.  It was great connecting with the IrisBG Community and meeting new friends. The American Public Gardens Association Conference: CommUNITY of Gardens (opens in a new tab) met for a 5-days in Portland, Oregon from June 20th to 24th.

Thank you! | IrisBG Community @ APGA 2022 | Plant Curation & Conservation Track |

Celebrate Sustainability | Photos

Thank you!

Portland Japanese Garden

Thanks to all staff, the program selection committee, and especially the speakers who shared the important work that they are doing. The energy, love, and care spent in curating, managing, planning, educating, and fundraising in public gardens was apparent and awe-inspiring. 

IrisBG Community @ APGA 2022

Thanks to everyone who came by our booth! We had many great questions, discussions, and demonstrations of the new features available with IrisBG!

🌱 Did you request a feature improvement or addition at the conference? We have included several of them in our upcoming release. Follow the topic The Latest Version of IrisBG (opens in a new tab) to never miss an update. 

Plant Curation and Conservation Tract Presentations

The IrisBG Community’s great work was on display during so many sessions but definitely highlighted during the Plant Curation and Conservation Tract Presentations!

Jaime Fry, Assistant Curator from Newfield (opens in a new tab) gave a presentation called “Out with Offensive Plant Names” which talked about how Common names have travelled through time and can be intertwined with the history of colonialism, racism, and imperialism.  See the resource (opens in a new tab), from which this presentation was based, that the Plant Nomenclature & Taxonomy Community of APGA and Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries created.

Laurel Matthew, Plant Records Curator & Senior Horticulturalist at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden (opens in a new tab) gave a presentation called “The Plant Records Curator’s Quest for Greatness.” The session was attended by many plant recorders from across the U.S. who are all on the same quest to build their skillset to improve their plant collections and conservation. She encouraged her fellow plant recorders to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, (S.M.A.R.T.), when writing their plant collection policy objectives because we all have limited time and resources.

🌱Remember that you can always ask the IrisBG Community your questions during our monthly Coffee Chats!

Garden Explorer for Cornell Botanic Gardens

Lynn Swain, Director of Development at Cornell Botanic Garden (opens in a new tab) gave a presentation called “Using Plant Records for Fundraising” where she emphasized the importance of plant records specialists’ work; as they are the gatekeepers of information that is critical to development. Development staff rely on timely communication with plant recorders to answer specific donor requests. The Garden Explorer helped her do this important work during the pandemic.

🌱 Lynn has graciously agreed to give her talk to the IrisBG Community. If you missed the presentation at the APGA Conference, invite your development staff to attend the August Coffee Chat with you! Click here to register. (opens in a new tab)

Celebrate Sustainability

• a Sustainability Index webinar series- session

This session was a cross-section of some of the topics we have learned from during the Sustainability Index Webinar-series, co-organised by APGA and IrisBG.

Emily Ellington, Curator-Assistant Director at The Polly Hill Arboretum, (opens in a new tab) Richard Piacentini, President and CEO at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (opens in a new tab), and Rachel Davis, GATEways Horticulturalist from UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden (opens in a new tab) continued the Public Gardens Sustainability Index Webinar discussions with their talk called “Celebrate Sustainability”. This discussion focused on how the gardens themselves can work towards becoming more sustainable. 

Photos

In addition to the inspiring presentations were able to explore the IrisBG community member Hoyt Arboretum (opens in a new tab) and the Lan Su Chinese Garden (opens in a new tab), Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden (opens in a new tab), and the Portland Japanese Garden (opens in a new tab).

Follow us on Instagram (@theirisbg (opens in a new tab)) to view more images.

Lan Su Chinese Garden

View of Mount Hood from the Portland Japanese Garden

Exhibition on display at the Portland Japanese Garden: Gifts from Japan: A Horticultural Tale told through Botanical Art. (opens in a new tab)