On Friday, May 29 a major leadership transition occurred at the Wilmot Botanical Gardens with the appointment of Jim Stribling to the role of director. In point of fact he has essentially functioned in the role for the past several months while I dealt with some unexpected health issues that…
Welcome to this issue of the Wilmot Botanical Gardens newsletter. It has been said that change is the only constant in life, attributed to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. This is perhaps most accurate in a garden. A garden is built on change. Seasons change, plants are added and removed, and…
Before we dig into the happenings around the Gardens, a quick reminder that our Spring Plant Sale is coming up April 17th and 18th, and the online pre-orders are going fast. While making my choices for the sale offerings this year, I endeavored to present a carefully curated list of…
When you receive this message the online component of our annual spring plant sale will be well underway. Over the past several years your support of our online offerings has continued to grow, exceeding our initial expectations by a wide margin. However, don’t forget our usual 2 days of…
There is evidence suggesting that the prevalence of mental health issues is higher among people living in urban areas compared to those in rural and countryside settings. Given that the therapeutic benefits of horticultural therapy (HT) and participation in urban agricultural activities have been demonstrated in numerous studies with different…
Fig. 1 – BJ and Eve Wilder Therapeutic Garden Fig. 2 – Betty and Delton Price Horticultural Education Complex with plaque and Fig. 3 – Josh Chase Memorial Garden Shed with plaque Fig. 4 – Antique, cast-iron water pump Fig. 5 – Camellia Vietnamese (white flower) and Fig. 6 –…
The continuously growing body of experimental evidence that experiencing nature, being in the company of plants, natural light, and engaging in horticultural activities provides therapeutic and well-being benefits is unquestionable. While there has been an abundance of research on the benefits of being in natural environments and/or engaging in people-plant…
Greetings and welcome to our winter newsletter. There is a famous saying “as one door closes, another opens”, but here at Wilmot Botanical Gardens I like to say, “as one flower falls, another opens”. This adage is being proven every day here in the garden. We also have much to…
In the June 20th, 2025, edition of the garden’s Newsletter1, I wrote about a compelling systematic review and meta-analysis out of the United Kingdom by Wood, Barton, and Wicks2 of 11 social and therapeutic horticulture studies that together quantitatively showed large and statistically significant treatment group effect size differences relative…
There are many telltale signs that fall has finally arrived in Gainesville. The students have returned to campus, the football season is well underway and most mornings are not quite as hot and humid. For those of us who love camellias another obvious sign of the return of fall is…
