Misha McRae, executive director of the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the garden.
If you’re a fan of butterflies, the garden can help.
McRae said, “We literally had about 15 species of butterflies flitting around yesterday. My most magical, of course, are the historic Atala butterflies that made its comeback at the historic US Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden, but the orange barred sulphurs are quite magical as well. This is a great time, the month of May, to come out and see the garden and experience this wonder of nature, which is the butterflies everywhere, and keep in mind this is not indoors, it’s outdoors, it’s Mother Nature’s plan, and she’s doing it just for us.”
The garden participates in the Blue Star Museum program, which offers free admission to active military and their family through Labor Day.
McRae said, “This is a program that we feel very privileged to be able to offer our active military free admissions 10 to 4 daily, that includes the entire family. This is our way of thanking our service members, as well as an opportunity to offer more for our military, like a benefit, if you like. And this is like our 10th year that we’ve been participating with it. So when families are looking for a place to be, a place to go, and that’s free, big hard word to say nowadays, come out to the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Gardens, 10 to four daily.”
The annual Key West Art in the Garden exhibit will be held May through August.
McRae said, “This is literally our 16th year to do it. Highly recognized and well attended. We work with local artists. The message here is the tropical forest recycles itself every day, and why we’re not doing that to ourselves as mankind, I’m not sure. So, we ask our artists to come up with sculptures that are bigger than a showroom, as big as you want to be. Come out to the garden, use it as a backdrop to create your sculpture made from recycled, repurposed, reused materials and natural materials. Come up with some creative, beautiful ideas. So I’m calling all artists to come in and step up. The exhibit runs now through the end of August. It is a great way to get your work out there, get your name out there, as well as support the botanical garden, but demonstrate how nature enhances art and art enhances nature. It’s a program that I’m very proud of that we created at the botanical garden with our local artists, so please call us, email us, let us know of your interest. I’ll send you an application.”
The Native Plant Sale, Compost Village and children’s art workshop happens the third Saturday each month.
McRae said, “We’re looking for a name that will combine all that happens on the third Saturday. We offer something for everyone. First and foremost, people need to be reminded that we do offer, and we do provide a native plant sale. Your roses, petunias, and tulips are not going to do good down here. Our native nursery features over 220 different native species of plants, well over 3,500 in all, that you can use, learn about, and plant in your own yard, and that yard could also be like me, just my back patio and pots. It runs the third Saturday. This goes from nine to noon. At the same time, we do a compost village. It is an education program teaching everyone that not everything goes in the trash. We do compost, we do recycle, we do reuse. For every five pounds of kitchen scraps that you drop off at the garden between nine and noon on that third Saturday, you get a free bag of mulch, which is the drop off that we got like six weeks before. This is student driven. This is actually an academic learning lesson on science and technology as well as conservation and trying to teach the public that you can do this in your own yard, it doesn’t have to be a big deal. I have my own composting, everyone should have their own composting. And then at the same time we got the kids, because children are our future. The garden always focuses on the children, we do the children’s nature is art workshop, goes from 10 to 12, there is a fee for it, but we actually use the garden for materials to come up with creative ideas for kids to create artwork, but also learn and appreciate the environment. It is a great program by our education department, sponsored by a number of grants, and of course our education manager is awesome with the kids, so that’s between 10 and 12 on that third Saturday of the month. The garden grows all the time, so we’ve got to keep up with it.”
Weed warriors are needed.
McRae said, “Keep in mind the botanical garden has always been family and children focused. We offer a scavenger hunt for free. We’ve got those musical instruments made from recycled materials. There’s a message here, and of course, our interactive playground for family fun. So it’s a great place to bring the kids out, especially in the mornings, to chase those butterflies, play some music, participate in the scavenger hunt, which has a prize at the end of it, as well as play on our playground, with the help of the Monroe County TDC, we are finally able to put that playground in, in 2021. It was a 15 year project, so I want more people to use it, please. But it’s a message here that for our families out here, especially once again the military with families, that we do have a lot of things that we offer the children, and we always love to hear children’s voices at the Botanical Garden. The rains are coming. When the rains come, the plants love it. The garden is glorious. It stands up and sings. You can just feel it. Unfortunately, the weeds do the same thing. So we’re looking for our weed warriors this summer to help us out. We meet every Wednesday and Saturday mornings from nine to noon, participate, learn about the native plants, get involved with the nursery, and then put your education to work for the botanical garden, helping out in the garden. It’s a great program to not only to be active but to be outdoors, but to learn more about our native species, why they’re so important, and how you can take care of them in your own yard.”
Donors help keep the garden going.
McRae said, “We are charity supported, the county, the city municipality, nobody else supports us. It’s just our visitors, our members, and our donors that gets this garden through. As we all well know, with the current administration and the budget cuts, the garden was affected just like everybody else on our grants and our foundation revenue, and it’s hit us hard. And I feel for everyone on it, but I’ve got my own battle to struggle here, so I’m looking for people to help us not only conserve this historic nine decades old keeper of the trees organization, but also to help us grow into what it should become. Keep in mind, we started in 1936 of 55 acres, we were down to 7.8 acres in 1980. That’s when I started in the botanical garden. In 1996 there was not much left. To say that we’re still here after 90 years at 15 acres has been no small statement, and it’s all done by good people who not only see what we have, understand what we have, but get invested into preserving what we can keep going. Your support is greatly appreciated. Become a volunteer is one way, your time. Become a member, sign your name, help us out with it. And then, of course, make a donation is the way that we actually keep the plants growing and the gates open.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keywest.garden/