Kruckeberg Botanic Garden Foundation Programs
Youth and Family Education
KBGF’s environmental education programs for children teaches them to care about the environment and engages them in outdoor physical and educational experiences that put them on the path to being healthy, wise stewards of the environment. Our popular Garden Tots Family Program, which features themes such as Tremendous Trees and Fantastic Ferns, offers weekly drop-in workshops throughout the summer in which families engage in a simple plant activity, garden exploration, and craft project. The Foundation now offers school field trips at the Garden for preschool and early elementary school classes. Field trip themes include Garden Senses, Signs of Spring and Forest Layers.
Community Outreach and Education
KBGF provides a range of garden tours and workshops throughout the year. Specialty tour themes include Pacific Northwest Native Plants, Ethnobotany, Birds, and other wildlife habitat-focused tours. Monthly garden workshops for adults include hands-on experiences such as Plant Propagation, Container Gardening, Seed Collecting and Cleaning, and Plant Photography.
MsK Rare and Native Plant Nursery
Established in 1971, the Nursery propagates over 500 species from the Garden to maintain our collection and to sell to the public. The Nursery promotes the use of Pacific Northwest native plants as well as rare and unusual plants from around the world in ornamental horticulture.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
Recent Successes
Our environmental education programs for children continue to grow. Our popular Garden Tots program had attendance of 541 people from 191 families this year. This past spring, our school field trip program for preschool and early elementary-aged children has been a huge success. We are also working with the Shoreline School District on ways the Garden can support the district’s science curriculum as a field trip location.
Current Needs
In 2012, the Kruckeberg Botanic Garden Foundation completed Phase I of the installation of a 10,000 square foot Pacific Northwest Native Plant Demonstration Garden. The demonstration garden will promote the ornamental value of PNW native plants and educate the public about gardening with natives. Using native plants helps reduce water and chemical use, provides wildlife habitat, and promotes environmental stewardship.
The demonstration garden will be a focal point for both adult and youth tours and workshops including our school field trips highlighting forest ecology. Goals for the project include providing the public with a dynamic presentation of the region’s natural landscape that illustrates the aesthetic potential of gardening with native plants, educating visitors about the benefits of gardening with native plants through signage, self-guided tours, interactive tours, and school programs and serving as a lasting tribute to the Garden’s founders, Art and Mareen Kruckeberg.