Last week Beargrass Thunder met up to attend the Waterfront Botanical Gardens hard hat tour to get a sneak peak into the future plans of this massive ongoing project. President Kasey Maier and Development Manager Elizabeth Chandler give us the inside scoop of what to expect in the upcoming years.
The Waterfront Botanical Gardens is truly a massive project that has been many years in the making. What started as a conceptual design created by Botanica and the Perkins+Will team called 'The Master Plan' is slowly but surely becoming a reality in Butchertown (close to downtown Louisville) through the help of donors and volunteers.
The plan is divided into several different phases. We are currently mid-way through 'Phase One' marking the completion of the The Graeser Family Education Center and Pollinator Meadow. Some things we are looking forward to in the near future include the Education Gardens, Edible Gardens, and eventually the Garden Expansion featuring the Beargrass Creek Overlook!
'Phase Two' will introduce the expansive Visitor's Center and Entry Garden, as well as an impressive water filtration system to improve the rain and runoff water going into Beargrass Creek and the surrounding areas. In addition to the Children’s Garden and the Planted Trellis, there will also be all kinds of new and interesting gardens to explore.
Last but not least, the grand finale of 'Phase Three' focuses on The Conservatory. It's main goal is to enable visitors to see plants that don’t typically grow in our climate. It will contain many exotic and tropical species of plants and trees complete with a Japanese garden! It will also be surrounded by a medicinal meadow, showing visitors the importance of plants in our food as well as our health.
We urge you to go check out the Waterfront Botanical Gardens for yourself! They officially open this October and will be hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony along with a plethora of fun and exciting events for people of all ages in the following weeks. The next "hard hat tour" is September 4th 4pm-5pm and is free of charge! Visit their website at waterfrontgardens.org to learn more and see how you can help!
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