New Orleans Botanical Garden
Using a combination of natural landscape, historic architecture, and surreal artwork, the garden was intended to be a place where families from all around New Orleans could enjoy the City Park.
Upkeep was lagging, vandalism was common, and attendance was down; the park had lost the allure that had made it one of the most popular public places in New Orleans.
With the founding of the Friends of City Park, the 1980s brought a new push to improve, renovate, and rebuild the historic Rose Garden.
Emersons plan expanded the footprint of the garden and improved the circulation and Peter Trapolin designed entrance and main pavilion building.
With the renovation and addition of many sections of the newly named Botanical Gardens, the stage was set for a surge in development that continues today.
At the center of this garden, in the middle of a WPA fountain, under a large Live Oak tree,Enrique Alferez created "The Flute Player".
A 12' bronze sculpture of a strong, graceful woman flaying a flute In the early 2000s many improvements and additions were added to the Botanical Garden.
During this time an Enrique Alferez sculpture "Rain Goddess" was moved from a lagoon near Christians Brothers school, to the corner of Roosevelt Mall and Victory Ave. Additionally the popular music series,"Thursdays at Twilight began in 2003 as part of the programming associated with the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase The arrival of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused nearly total destruction of the garden's collections.
The Duplantier Pavilion, a clean contemporary lath structure, designed by Michael McKay was constructed and is used for small demonstrations and as a gathering place for volunteers prior to working in the garden.
A major initiative was launched a few years after Katrina to move the Botanical Garden entrance from the Pavilion of the Two Sisters to the location of an old Park building called the Little Casino.
In October 2017 a contemporary entrance garden, designed by Carbo and Associates, with a living green wall and jumping water fountain opened to the public.
Near the old WPA Cold Frame area, Landscape Architect Robin Tanner has designed and constructed a group of 3 contemporary garden spaces, called "Concretia" A BOTANICAL ART CONCEPTION THAT SEEKS TO RECONCILE THE WEIGHT OF CONCRETE WITH THE BOYANCY OF FLORA WHILE PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE FORCES OF NATURE.
Housing azalea, camellia, and magnolias, this section provides a fragrant walk through some of the South's most famous flowering plants.
Visitors are first greeted by cold frames, raised gardens edged in bricks originally meant to grow bedding plants for transplant.
Finally, the Train Garden features miniature buildings made of botanical materials in a layout of the City of New Orleans.
The more significant of these two pieces is the sculpture by Rose Marie Huth, located near the center of the gardens at the end of the water lily pond.
Along the sides of the well-kept grassy runway are rows of luscious green plants with small, delicate flowers hanging from their branches.
The rosarian, Abedalhadi Mousa, is responsible for many daily activities of maintenance including deadheading, or clipping off the blackened and dried ends of the rose bushes with his pruning shears and throwing them into a large plastic bin.
These employees both take care of the foliage as well as assist onlookers, directing them to such sources of information as the Dial and Discover service.
Each grouping of roses has a small black tag at the bottom with white inset writing listing off their name and date of origination if available.
Monarchs, giant swallowtails, and gulf fritillary are seen fluttering through the air, feasting on the cone flowers, lantana and coreopsis.
It is a small, intimate space with flowering plants that climb up the sides of the walk, causing the butterflies to fly around any visitor that strolls through.
There are milkweed plants for the monarchs, passion flower vines for the gulf fritillary, and dill and parsley for the blood swallowtails.
The 12-acre (49,000 m2) New Orleans Botanical Garden, located in City Park, serves as the horticulture activity center for both Louisiana and the surrounding Gulf South, offering a wide variety of programs for kids and adults.
The miniature size trains run on the 1,300 feet (400 m) long track, and the buildings are made completely out of plant material.
By dialing the posted number form your cell phone, you can listen to a brief information speech about the flowers, plants and history of the specific garden you are in.
In the past year, they have worked closely with Lusher Charter School, providing information and programs for the students inside and out of the classroom.
Hurricane Katrina caused a massive loss of plant life and damage to facilities that seriously injured the Garden's abilities to continue normal operation.
Although nearly all of the buildings and sculptures were preserved, the storm's floodwaters of up to three feet (0.91 m) remained for approximately two weeks, killing nearly 90% of the plant life contained in the gardens.
Upon reopening, new classes were offered to teach New Orleanians how to successfully replant their gardens and how keep their plants alive, even with all the damage from brackish water.
