Guest blogger Nancy Faget sheds some light on a little-known Federal agency.
It’s always interesting to see what kinds of things I can learn from a Government publication. For example, I just found out that President George Washington asked the city commission to incorporate a botanical garden into the plan for Washington, DC. He suggested the square next to the President’s House as a possible site. But it was President James Monroe who passed the bill to set aside five acres on the National Mall for a national botanic garden. Thus, a living museum of plants was created as an oasis on Capitol Hill.
This National Garden is a living laboratory which includes the Rose Garden, the Butterfly Garden, the Lawn Terrace, the First Ladies’ Water Garden, the Regional Garden, and an outdoor amphitheater.
The founders of the country had an understanding of plants and gardens as a national benefit. In the beautifully produced A Botanic Garden for the Nation, published by the U.S. Botanic Garden, I learned many interesting facts that I didn’t expect to find. For example, Thomas Jefferson emphasized that the Lewis and Clark expedition should look for plants and vegetables. The U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1842 also was charged partly with gathering plants and seeds from around the world. As the expedition traveled 87,000 nautical miles charting oceans and coastlines, the botanists and naturalist aboard the ships collected plant and seed specimens. Although the color photographs in the book are spectacular, it’s also a fascinating read. Here are some other bits I discovered:
Best of all, the photos of Bartholdi Park and the National Garden look so inviting, they make me want to grab A Botanic Garden for the Nation, sit in the sun, and just ponder the seasons! You can buy your own copy for garden reading on the U.S. Government Online Bookstore, or find it in a library. |
govbooktalk
Trudy Hawkins
Government Book Talk 
[…] Another beautiful book that features some of the history of the national mall area is A Botanic Garden for the Nation: The United States Botanic Garden. You can read more about this publication in a previous post on Government BookTalk. […]
LikeLike
Beautiful – imagine how our country would be if every town or community would have a large botanic garden as a center of living.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing this informative blog post. I love botanic gardens. In gardens i feel very happy and pleasured by seeing the greenery or lovely flower plants. So please continue…………….
LikeLike
Thank you for this book and keep the green fingers!
LikeLike
This is the best weblog for anybody who needs to search out out about this topic. You understand a lot its virtually laborious to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, just great!
LikeLike
I visited them on my holiday only last year. I was very impressed. I will be recommending it to colleagues
LikeLike
I would like to read more about this Botanic Garden. Thanks for sharing the links.
LikeLike
RSS Subscribed! Great informational resource,I will tell a friend 🙂
LikeLike
I am highly impressed with the law enforcement agencies of US for their wise and smart policy of sending confiscated endangered species of plant to national botanical garden for greater interest of public.
LikeLike
Thank you for noticing! Yes, the public should know that law enforcement serves to protect property and lives in a VERY broad fashion. The book helps to underscore the cooperation across agencies.
LikeLike
The most beautiful cities all have planned green spaces within them. I’m sure the founding fathers recognized this when they were thinking about the future of their country.
LikeLike
I think this book is great I am interested to know more and what is in this book about A Botanic Garden for the Nation. I am download the link you provided, I like and thanks for everything
LikeLike
i love garden, something beautiful can make the heart is quiet and comfortable
LikeLike
I am extremely thankful for this valuable book!
LikeLike
MUY BUENA IDEA PODER DISPONER DE TODA ESTA DOCUMENTACION RECOPILADA EN UN MISMO LUGAR
FELICITACIONES
EDELMIRO
LikeLike