The role of the botanical garden in the community will be explored at an international symposium to be held here Feb. 23 and 24, to which the public is invited. Registration is $25, and includes lunch and refreshments on Feb. 24 and a copy of The Outdoor Circle's illustrated book on island trees, "Majesty II."
The event begins a week from Sunday with free open houses noon to 4 p.m. at Lyon and Waimea arboretums and at the Honolulu Botanical Gardens at Foster, Ho'omaluhia and Wahiawa. Special programs are planned at each garden.
The symposium itself runs 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. the following day at the Hale Koa Hotel. The featured speakers are Katy Moss Warner, director of horticulture at Walt Disney World; Peter S. Wyse Jackson, secretary general of Botanic Gardens Conservation International; Dr. Suhirman, director of the Botanical Gardens of Indonesia and Richard H. Daley, executive director of the Denver Botanic Gardens.
Interviewed on a snowy day at his Denver gardens office, Daley discussed his symposium topic, the role of a botanical garden in a city.
The Denver Botanic Gardens are located 10 minutes from the center of the city on 21 acres. They are a leader in the protection of endangered and rare plants of the Rocky Mountains and high plains.
The gardens include a tropical conservatory, water garden, rock alpine garden, xeriscape demonstration garden, and herb and home demonstration gardens. A particular show place is the Garden of Pine Wind, a Japanese garden and tea house designed by America's foremost architect of Japanese landscapes, Koichi Kawana.
Like most directors of city-funded venues, Daley worries about money. "We are funded by a city appropriation that hasn't changed in 12 years. The money comes from a six-county regional sales tax that brings us $2 million a year. We have a membership of 13,000, with total fees of $500,000 annually. But it isn't enough.
"So how do we do it?," Daley asked. "Volunteers. We have the largest volunteer force of any botanic garden in the world. We have 1,600 people who give us a total of 85,000 hours a year. That would equal the hours of about 40 staff members who we couldn't afford to pay.
"We pay a lot of attention to our volunteers. Five years ago we hired a volunteer coordinator who had herself been a volunteer for 18 years. We have luncheons and awards programs for them."
The botanic garden also has a manager of children's programs, working with Denver area schools. A family highlight of the holiday season is the Teddy Bear Tea for the youngest garden visitors.
A gift shop, a summer concert series, plant sales and the holiday "Blossoms of Light" held nightly on the last three weeks of December are other dependable fund raisers. "I am not at all afraid of the 'e' word, entertainment." Daley added.
"We can't take the attitude that we're above all that. If entertainment brings people here, that's what we have to do. We are competing for leisure-time hours and dollars with a lot of other facilities.
"We bring 300,000 visitors in here each year, and one-third of them come for the events. We appeal most to the serious gardeners, but we also lighten up to attract other visitors," he said.
Daley traced botanic garden history from Padua, Italy, in the 1400s. The Royal Botanical Garden at Kew, England, started as a medicinal garden and "grew into a collectors' garden with one of everything," he said.
"Late 20th-century botanic gardens are much more involved with children's and adults' education, conservation and tourism." The Denver garden is one of 25 participating institutions nationwide in the Center for Plant Conservation, the first coordinated effort to preserve the nation's rare and endangered plants.
"It's harder to create interest in endangered plants than in animals," Daley said. "The plight of the California condor brought a great amount of publicity to our endangered animals, but saving little plants doesn't draw that much interest among the media."
Daley looked out of his office window to the leafless, snow-laden trees. "We're in cold storage out there," he said, "but people still come to classes and lectures and concerts and to visit the conservatory.
"We hope that they say to themselves, 'Wow, I'd better come back in the spring when it will really be pretty.' Most of them do."
Where: Hale Koa Hotel, 2055 Kalia Road
