Changes at the Botanical Garden

It’s tumultuous times at the Botanical Garden.  My peaceful place has been rocked.  Last week, the Volunteer Propagator Section Heads received shocking bad news.  We are to stop propagating plants immediately and work to reduce our stocks of plants, selling them cheaply.  It’s all because of a two year repair of a bridge on Centennial Drive near the Garden.  It will take away a third of our precious parking places which has started a chain reaction of changes that has lead to the big slow down of our activity.   Perry, the Volunteer Coordinator, asked me Thursday how I was and I told her not so well, I’m depressed about propagation.  She listened patiently and then said “Maybe leading a tour of kids would cheer you up.”   Since the pandemic closed the Garden a couple of years ago, and shut down all the tours, I haven’t led a tour.  Not for more than two years now.  So I thought about Perry’s offer and decided to take it.  Why not?  Maybe it would cheer me up.

As I thought about the route I would take on my tour, I realized I had a map of the whole Garden in my head and when I thought about what I would say, I realized I had the whole curriculum in my head.  I learned that the tour was for a school for autistic kids.  As I’d never lead a tour for autistic kids, I did some research on what I should be doing.  Keeping them calm, not presenting too much information and being very patient.  Patient I can do.  So I decided to take them to four different forests we have in the Garden.  Forests are very calming places.  I would take them to my favorite places.  I ended up with four 8th Graders.  Two of the four played the “oh, how boring this is” routine, so I got to use my patient skills.  The other two seemed to enjoy the tour.  I was happy to be leading school children around the Garden again.  I like what doing that brings out in me.   It is good to know that I can get back into this, when the propagation slows way down in the next years.  I do love the Garden so much, I want to keep up my volunteering there.  Finding beauty and peace and great joy there is a pleasure in my life.