Pittsburgh Botanic Garden Groundbreaking

This morning, BGC Prez  Nancy Del Presto and I were lucky enough to attend the groundbreaking of the new, long-awaited, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden. The event celebrated the beginning of the renovation of a 140-year-old barn that will become the Bayer Welcome Center. This will be the entrance for the first phase of the Garden--the Woodland Trail. Please follow the PGC link to learn more about the free Peek and Preview tours which will begin September 13, enabling the public to visit the Garden for the first time. 


Nancy and I enjoyed some light refreshments on this gorgeous sunny day, met the Girl Scout troop who, in the course of completing their Silver Award Project, volunteered doing many things at the PBG, including building the giant-sized nest you'll see in the photos above. We listened to a few board members, volunteers, and community leaders representing the Garden's past and future visitors and collaborators. This group included PBG President Greg Nace, whose vision and talent has guided the development of the Garden. 


We chose to take the woodland tour, and saw some beautiful sights--both with our eyes and with our minds' eyes. The designers have done a marvelous job of merging both cultural history and natural history into the new PBG, which, when complete, will be the biggest one around. (They did say if it was in the country or the world, but I can't remember. Just know it will be big.) The Garden is in its earliest stages, but is is wonderful to see the outline for the future, while enjoying the new plantings and trails. PBG is in the process of transforming 460 acres of abandoned coal mining land into a world-class, comprehensive Botanic Garden. Their website has lots of info about the reclamation, progress, and plans.


Many of our Blackridge Garden Club members are already members of the BGC, but if you aren't, I encourage you to support it.  I'd also like to remind you to let me know if you have any gardening adventures you'd like to share on our blog. Whether you've traveled far or just to your own back yard, we'd love to find out about it!