School Spotlight: The New York Botanical Garden

Immerse yourself in a world of botanical knowledge with the New York Botanical Garden's vast array of educational programs. From fun workshops to comprehensive certificate programs, there's something for everyone, whether you're an overworked city dweller looking for stress relief or a professional seeking a career in Floral Design or Landscape Design.

Key Insights

The New York Botanical Garden, a National Historic Landmark, provides the largest running plant-related continuing education program in the nation.
Education has always been part of the Garden's mission since its foundation in 1891, with a variety of classes and workshops offered in disciplines like photography, art, wellness, and certificate programs in seven areas, including Floral Design and Landscape Design.
Apart from serving as a living museum, the Garden also stands as a major educational institution, educating over 300,000 people annually on topics such as plant science, ecology, and healthful eating.
The Garden also runs one of the world's largest plant research and conservation programs, with nearly 200 staff members, including 80 Ph.D. scientists, working both in the Garden's state-of-the-art molecular labs and in the field.
Classes at the Garden attract diverse professionals from various fields such as law, graphic design, marketing, accounting, and event planning, for personal and professional enrichment.
The most popular classes offered by the Garden on CourseHorse are Floral Design classes like Fifteen-Minute Flower Arranging Ideas and Flower Arranging with Store-Bought Bouquets, followed by Gardening classes such as Fundamentals of Gardening.

Discover the secrets of New York City's largest botanical garden and learn how it has been educating generations of New Yorkers for over a century. This week, we talk to Liz Fisher from the Garden to find out more about its mission and educational offerings.

The New York Botanical Garden, a National Historic Landmark and botanical garden spanning 250 acres of Bronx Park in NYC, offers the largest running plant-related continuing education program in the nation. This week, we chatted with Liz Fisher from the Garden about its history, its mission, and the many educational experiences it provides New York City. Here’s what she had to share:

The New York Botanical Garden was founded in 1891, and education has always been part of our mission. To give you a bit more of the story: In 1917 the Garden started a program to teach students how to run a school garden; in 1918 a vocational gardening program was started for wounded soldiers returning from World War I in an effort to train them for employment. Then, in 1932, horticulturist Thomas H. Everett established a more formal continuing education program.Today, The New York Botanical Garden offers a variety of fun classes and workshops in photography, art, and wellness, and for the more serious student, Certificate programs in seven disciplines (including Floral Design and Landscape Design). More than 750 classes, workshops, and lectures are offered each year at the Garden in the Bronx, in Manhattan, and in Dutchess and Fairfield counties.The New York Botanical Garden is an advocate for the plant kingdom. As an iconic living museum, it serves as an oasis in this busy metropolis. The Garden is also a major educational institution. More than 300,000 people annually—among them Bronx families, school children, teachers, and continuing education students—learn about plant science, ecology, and healthful eating through NYBG’s hands-on, curriculum-based programming. NYBG also operates one of the world’s largest plant research and conservation programs, with nearly 200 staff members, including 80 Ph.D. scientists, working in the Garden’s state-of-the-art molecular labs, as well as in the field, where they lead programs in 18 countries.New Yorkers are nature-starved, hurried, over-worked, and in general, overly stressed. We want people to reconnect with plants and nature and to take time to pursue a hobby or interest they enjoy. For students seeking professional expertise in our Certificate programs, we want them to be client-ready in terms of their knowledge and skillset when they graduate. Our thorough curriculum and amazing instructors help us achieve these goals. It’s great to see so many different people who care about reconnecting with the natural world. We have lawyers, graphic designers, marketers, teachers, accountants, and event planners enrolling in our workshops and Certificate programs for personal and professional enrichment.Each student is a story, since students come from all walks of life. But my favorite story is from a few years ago. We had a surgeon from Sloan-Kettering take Botanical Art classes in order to unwind and to keep up his finger dexterity. The precision required to draw plants in scientific detail attracted him. That’s what we call transferrable skills! More recently, we had two friends from Texas sign one another up for our Floral Design Summer Intensive program, a 5-week boot camp we offer for professional training in floral design. They had a lot of fun and completed all required classroom hours for a Certificate!We’ve been listing classes on CourseHorse since 2013. CourseHorse has helped us reach new audiences, particularly in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Most people know about The New York Botanical Garden, but not everyone knows we have classes every day in the Bronx and in Midtown (at 20 West 44^th Street). We’ve loved seeing a vibrant set of CourseHorse students who are as enthusiastic as we are about plant diversity, sustainable gardening practices, and healthful living.Our most popular classes on CourseHorse tend to be in Floral Design. Fifteen-Minute Flower Arranging Ideas always draws a big crowd, as does Flower Arranging with Store-Bought Bouquets. We also have students taking our Fundamentals classes in Form and Style. The next most popular classes are in Gardening. People love Fundamentals of Gardening since it covers the basics. But our quirkier offerings tend to be popular as well: Grow Gourmet Mushrooms Indoors, Bonsai for Beginners, and Terrarium Workshops. There is a real interest in urban gardening, growing your own vegetables, and green roofs, and we’re responding to that need with our courses. Our program is expanding in these areas, with specific classes on City Roof Design, Super Small Space Veggie Gardening, Native Flora, and a lot more. Ultimately, our goal is to grow the awareness of our classes. Bringing nature back to the city and fostering an appreciation of it is a mission we seem to share with a lot of people.

(Photos courtesy of The New York Botanical Garden and its archives.)

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