BELLEVUE BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY
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Mission Statement
The Bellevue Botanical Garden is an urban refuge, encompassing 53-acres of cultivated gardens, restored woodlands, and natural wetlands. The living collections showcase plants that thrive in the Pacific Northwest. Our demonstration of good garden design and horticulture techniques inspires visitors to create their own beautiful, healthy gardens. We provide a place of beauty, serenity, and learning for thousands of visitors each year. There are also many fun things to do throughout the seasons: plant sales, community celebrations, summer concerts, art exhibits and holiday light festivities. The Bellevue Botanical Garden Visitor Center, including The Aaron Education Center, has earned the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification. The Garden is free and open daily from dawn to dusk.
About This Cause
The Bellevue Botanical Garden is located at 12001 Main Street, Bellevue, WA 98005 (425) 452-2750 The Bellevue Botanical Garden Society is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in the State of Washington in 1986. The Society is an all-volunteer organization governed by a board of directors. Directors are elected by the membership and serve three-year terms. Elections are held at the annual membership meeting in August. Officers of the Board are elected by the directors at the first meeting following the annual membership meeting. Officers serve one-year terms. Various committees handle the daily activities of the Society. Each is manned by unpaid volunteers. Some of the major committees include education, finance, and resource development. In addition, numerous sub-committees handle more specific projects. Education: Develop, maintain and promote interpretive programs and facilities for public education in gardening, horticulture and conservation relevant to the botanical heritage of the Pacific Northwest. Fund Raising: Develop a multi-level fund raising plan and fund raising literature to support BBGS programs, events, projects and endowment fund. Membership: Broaden and support membership and volunteer growth for all ages and interest levels. Visit our Membership page for more details. Administration and Records: Organize the BBGS records and administration to assist in the orderly operation of the garden and the Society. Garden Development and Maintenance: Guided by the master plan, assist the City of Bellevue to develop the BBG into a resource of regional and international renown. Public Relations and Promotion: Increase public awareness of BBG. Support the City of Bellevue in making BBG an attractive destination for public enjoyment and passive recreation. Visitors are welcome to visit the garden every day from dawn to dusk. However, no pets are allowed in the garden. Please call (425) 452-2750 if you plan to bring a large group (more than ten) on a self-guided tour of the garden. If you are not scheduling a guided tour and you have a group arriving by bus, it is very important that you call first and ask for bus parking directions, which will be mailed to you for your bus driver. Restrooms are located in our Visitor Center. We do not have an eating facility at the garden. The Bellevue Botanical Garden Society recruits and trains volunteer docents to guide scheduled tours of the Bellevue Botanical Garden. There is no charge for these walking tours, however donations are strongly encouraged. Each Saturday and Sunday, April through October a tour begins at the Visitor Center at 2pm. Additional walking tours may be arranged seven days a week from April through October. A two week notice is required to schedule all tours. Request for tours are accepted starting in January for the current year. Group size is limited to a maximum number of fifty (50) people. Children's walking tours are available for first through sixth graders. At this time, no guided tours are available for pre-school aged children's groups. The Aaron Education Center is a hub of garden-related programs and events. Have fun and meet new people while you learn to grow beautiful gardens that contribute to a healthy local ecosystem. Visitor Center Lush plantings of ferns and fragrant vines provide a welcome respite from hectic daily life as you enter our new Visitor Center complex. Listen to water spilling over a slate wall while you wait to meet your friends in the Gathering Place south of the entry breezeway. Explore our virtual garden in the Welcome Room or hunt for the perfect keepsake in the adjacent Trillium Store. Courtyard gardens lead the way to The Aaron Education Center. The Bellevue Botanical Garden Visitor Center, including The Aaron Education Center, has earned the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification for its innovative environmental design and sustainable features. The building, which opened in June 2014, was designed by Olson Kundig Architects to integrate naturally into the garden environment. The center features environmentally-friendly elements such as efficient heating and cooling, recycled materials, water efficient landscaping, and bicycle storage & changing rooms. The Living Lab Program is a botany-based 2 hour educational field trip/workshop for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The program is offered free as an outreach of the Bellevue Botanical Garden Society. Teachers from public and private schools can reserve a date through an online sign-up that is published in June (for fall) and November (for spring). If you would like to be on the email list for the sign-up, contact the manager at livinglab@bellevuebotanical.org Sign-ups are on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are a homeschool parent, you can contact us and we can include your child with a school group. Our Staff and Volunteers The Living Lab program is run by a staff of professional teachers as well as our amazing volunteers. Several members of our staff have worked in the Bellevue school district. We strive to provide your students with a positive field trip experience. Participating teachers and their students, volunteer helpers and staff teachers are asked to evaluate their experiences with the Living Lab Program. Judging from their comments, they feel this free program, funded by the Bellevue Botanical Garden Society, is valuable and serves the community well. Hands-on learning is fun and educational for all ages! To sign up to volunteer email livinglab@bellevuebotanical.org or sign up on Volgistics. Hope to see you! Thematic Grade-specific Activities Students usually come to the garden from 9:30am to 11:30 am, unless special arrangements have been made. Classes are divided into smaller groups that participate in grade-specific activities related to the topic for the day. Groups rotate through the planned activities. If you are looking for a tour of the garden only with no workshop, you would contact the docent program at the garden. A curriculum has been developed for each grade level (K-5th). Each activity aligns with the Washington State science, math or social studies CORE curriculum as well as the local Bellevue School district curriculum. It also aligns well with the Lake Washington school district and many private school curriculums. We are also mindful of the upcoming Next Gen standards and are adjusting our curriculum to meet those needs. The grade level activities are: Wood Works (kindergarten): Students learn about wood and wood products made by early Native Americans and contemporary societies. They go on a forest adventure walk in the garden. Flower Power (1st grade): Students discover the form and function of flowers and their pollinators. Super Soils (2nd grade): By observing how water percolates through four different soils, students determine the best soil for the Hens and Chicks plants. They then place their plant in an alpine environment to take home and visit the alpine garden. Measurement Madness (3rd grade): Students measure the soil mixture for Hens and Chicks plants that they take home, and also measure tree height and circumference in search of a suitable mast for a fictitious ship. Native Plants in Our Lives (4th grade): Students learn to identify native plants in the garden and their uses by local Native Americans. They apply their knowledge when they work together as a “Native American village” in a game of survival. Garden Environments: Plant selection challenge (4th or 5th grade): New program designed to challenge students to find plants in the garden, learn about a specific plant and make a decision about whether it should be planted in a pretend park. Garden Tour: Each group goes on a short tour of the garden tailored to their topic for the day. It usually includes the Tateuchi pavilion, the Shorts ground cover garden, and sometimes the rhododendron glen or the Yao garden. The tour includes talking about the Shorts family and the history of the garden. For smaller groups, the tour is led by the teacher of their last activity. The tours are geared to reflect the topic for the day. You can always come as often as you'd like, bring as many guests as you wish, and enjoy a wonderful living museum with a wide variety of gardens to explore. The Garden is a part of the Bellevue Parks Department, but public funds are not adequate for total maintenance and enhancement, so your membership dollars help provide the support needed. Member Benefits • Free admission to Garden d'Lights (Individual members: one ticket; Family members: four tickets) • Ten percent (10%) discount at The Trillium Store at the Garden • Discounts on select classes and lectures • Free admission to the annual meeting, the Trillium Celebration • Bi-monthly newsletter • Free admission to participating AHS gardens • Invitations to member-only events • Nursery and Horticulture Discount Program From specialty to family-owned, we are partnering with some of the best nurseries, horticultural supply and garden centers in our area to help our members save money and fulfill their gardening dreams. Show your membership card to receive a 10% discount on regularly priced merchandise unless otherwise noted. See their respective websites for hours of operation and directions: