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HomeMy WebLinkAboutReport - Mail Packet - 10/8/2013 - Information From Gardens On Spring Creek Re: Planting The Seed To Cultivate Community CampaignPLANTING THE SEED TO CULTIVATE COMMUNITY THE GARDENS ON SPRING CREEK Planting the Seed… For nearly a decade, the Gardens on Spring Creek has grown as a special place and source of positive, engaging and creative opportunities for people to connect with plants and with each other. Formation of a public/private partnership between the City of Fort Collins and the non-profi t Friends of the Gardens on Spring Creek, the Fort Collins voters enthusiastically supported the proposal for the creation of a community horticultural center through a ballot initiative, Building Community Choices (BCC), and in 2004, The Gardens offi cially opened its doors. The Gardens on Spring Creek has been growing annually since opening in every way – in visitations, educational programs, and the number of gardens developed. With over 56,000 annual visitors, The Gardens is one of the largest cultural venues in northern Colorado. As we look towards our tenth anniversary in 2014, for The Gardens to fully achieve its mission and vision, to meet the demands of the future, and to become the cultural destination that Fort Collins expects and deserves, the time is now to complete The Gardens’ Master Plan. We invite you to join us... …to Cultivate Community 56,000 annual visitors, making The Gardens one of the top ten cultural facilities in Northern Colorado. 3,700 local students participate in our youth programs annually 30 Community and Civic Partnerships Colorado State University Front Range Community College United Way Food Bank for Larimer County Poudre School District CSU Extension in Larimer County Larimer County Conservation Corp. University of Colorado Health Beet Street Denver Botanic Garden Regional Rotary Clubs We are expanding our Community Garden Outreach Program to include Family Garden Program, Community Gardens in Parks, and Plant it Forward 13,000 meals donated through Garden of Eatin’ produce and Plant it Forward donations in 2012 180 volunteers who donate over 6,700 hours of service each year 66 active corporate and business partners 115 private Host events to annually including weddings, family reunions, and birthday parties Our Vision The Gardens on Spring Creek continues to serve the community through partnership, innovation, and integration with nature. The Gardens is committed to its mission of enriching the lives of people and fostering environmental stewardship through horticulture. Our vision remains to be a world-class botanic garden that is community oriented, educational, experiential, and sustainable. 3 Approximately fi ve acres of gardens will be completed including the Great Lawn, Undaunted Garden, Prairie and Foothills Demonstration Sites, and Phase Two of the Wetland Demonstration Site. 4 The Great Lawn The Great Lawn is a two-acre garden featuring a ¾ acre lawn with a stage surrounded by beautiful and educational gardens. This multi-use venue will seat up to 1,500 people for performances. It will be used in a variety of ways such as small concerts, plays, community festivals, fundraisers, rentals and weddings. Garden Completion $2 million Phase One 5 Prairie and Foothills Garden The Prairie, Foothills and Wetland Demonstration Sites comprise almost 2½ acres. These sites will be more than just a collection of native trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials – they will showcase the beauty, form and function of native plants, thereby inspiring visitors to add native plants to their home gardens and helping visitors, both residents and tourists, make a connection to the local landscape. 6 Undaunted Garden The Undaunted Garden, designed by nationally recognized landscape designer and Fort Collins resident Lauren Springer Ogden, will be an artistically designed showpiece of plants native to western North America and non-native plants adapted to local growing conditions. The primary purpose of this ¾-acre xeriscape garden is to demonstrate how to garden appropriately in a drought-prone region. 7 Four Seasons Garden The Four Seasons Garden provides the backdrop for the Great Lawn. This garden groups plants with showy qualities for each of the seasons – winter, spring, summer and fall. Themed Gardens Surrounding the Great Lawn, a variety of themed gardens will provide beauty, inspiration and educational opportunities. These gardens are sure to enhance the events and programs held on the Great Lawn. Themed Gardens will include a Rose Garden, Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden, Plant Select Demonstration Garden, Bird Garden, and Moonlight Garden. 8 The Visitor’s Center currently contains a production greenhouse, Evelyn Clark Classroom, a lobby, and offi ces. The envisioned building contains a conservatory, large meeting room, observation tower, new entryway with gift shop, a small café, and additional offi ce space. These additions will double the square footage of the facility. Conservatory The conservatory will feature year-round green space – something not found in northern Colorado. The conservatory will showcase tropical plants, foods crops that cannot be grown in Colorado, and expand the plant collection at our botanic garden. The conservatory will also off er educational components that will engage and inform our guests of all ages year-round. Throughout the winter, people come to visit our production greenhouse to simply smell the soil and plant life – it is alive! Having a year-round green space will expand this experience immensely and enhance our community’s quality of life. Community Meeting Room A large meeting room will allow for more lecture classes to happen simultaneously with hands- on classes in the Evelyn Clark Classroom. The meeting room will be much larger (and can be divided into two rooms), seat up to 100 and will be able to be rented to community groups for a modest fee. Observation Tower and Café An observation tower will sit atop a new café. The tower will give visitors a birds-eye view of the facility. The café is a must for visitors who want to expand their visit and fully engage with our gardens. With no other restaurants nearby, the café will serve the needs of Spring Creek trail and Gardens visitors alike. Visitor’s Center Lobby A new visitor-friendly lobby will be integrated. It will enhance customer service for all visitors 11 Community Meeting Room Visitor’s Center Lobby Conservatory Observation Tower Existing Space Expansion Outdoor Arts and Culture in Fort Collins Local residents struggle to find a unique outdoor gathering place that welcomes and invites them to enjoy the natural world, art, culture, and quiet solitude. Lack of available outdoor space for cultural performances and community gathering is detrimental to continuing to build a vibrant quality of life in Fort Collins. The need for a green space to express our individuality and culture as a community is a vital component towards ensuring Fort Collins remains a top destination in Northern Colorado. The Gardens offers that respite and a gathering place that provides greater depth of connections with nature, with art and performance, and with community. 12 Our Community Need 9 Meaningful Experiences with Nature A primary purpose of our organization is to promote environmental stewardship. We achieve this by providing experiential opportunities for all ages to learn, engage, and connect with the natural world. Recent research shows there is a growing disparity between the time kids spend indoors wired to technology and the time they spend outside interacting with nature. The vast majority of today’s kids use a computer, watch TV, or play video games on a daily basis, but only about 10 percent say they are spending time outdoors every day, according to a nationwide poll from The Nature Conservancy (August 2011). The data suggests that if American youth are given more opportunities to have a meaningful experience outdoors, they will be more likely to value nature, engage with it, and feel empowered to sustain it. 14 Environmental Stewardship and Conservation As Fort Collins’ botanic garden, the Gardens on Spring Creek houses a living collection of native and adapted plants. With the addition of five acres of new gardens, this plant collection is expected to double. New species will be trialed, new ecosystems (prairie and foothills) will be demonstrated, and our plant palette will expand significantly. With only 15" of precipitation per year and continual drought cycles, one of our new gardens, the Undaunted Garden, will be instrumental in educating residents how to garden appropriately in our high desert environment. A member of the American Public Gardens Association, The Gardens will work with our colleagues across the country to document and expand our plant collection. Community Benefits Growing the Gardens on Spring Creek will benefit the northern Colorado community in many ways: • Accommodate more than 75,000 visitors each year by providing an engaging, experiential, and sustainable space for them to enjoy our environment • Provides a central outdoor arts and culture venue and community gathering space in Fort Collins, linked by trail, road, and bus routes • Ensures local arts organizations, such as the Fort Collins Symphony, theatre companies, and others, an outdoor space to perform under the stars • Be a valuable experiential and educational resource for area students and visitors of all ages • Offer an “alive” year-round green space in a new conservatory – something not found in northern Colorado • Solidifies The Gardens as a northern Colorado destination and in turn draws more tourists to Fort Collins • Expands crowd capacity for trademark community events, such as Garden of Lights • Creates dedicated space to improve access, flow, safety and customer service within the Visitor’s Center • Enhances an important natural green space among infrastructure development and mixed use housing construction in Fort Collins 15 Donor Recognition Opportunities $1,500,000 Great Lawn $1,000,000 Conservatory $200,000 Prairie Garden Foothills Garden Community Meeting Room Visitor’s Center Lobby $100,000 Observation Tower Four Seasons Garden $25,000 Themed Gardens including: Rose Garden Bird Garden Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden Moonlight Garden We look forward to working with our donors to recognize their contributions through signage, maps, Gardens website, and campaign literature. 16 Special thanks to the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado for serving as fiscal sponsor of the Gardens on Spring Creek’s Plant the Seed Campaign. We’ve Planted a Seed We Invite You to Join Us in Cultivating Community Take Root. Grow. Flourish. The Gardens on Spring Creek 2145 Centre Avenue Fort Collins, Colorado 80526 by engaging them in educational displays and allowing staff and volunteers to provide customized services. In addition, an expanded gift shop will off er a multitude of gardening resources and naturally inspired gift-items for visitors – especially tourists who are looking for a souvenir to take home from their trip to Fort Collins. Visitor’s Center Completion $3 million Phase Two 10