Your garden or arboretum can contribute towards a sustainable future

The Public Garden Sustainability Index is an initiative managed by APGA (American Public Garden Association) "intended to inspire gardens to advance their own garden sustainability programs and operations to further the mission of their institution while connecting to local, national, and global sustainability efforts. The Index shares examples of how gardens are contributing to best practices in Sustainability."

The Sustainability Index Series

We are excited and proud to share that we are the sponsor and a collaborator of the new Public Garden Sustainability Index webinar series, and initiative created by APGA. The twelve webinar series is based on the twelve attributes of the Public Gardens Sustainability Index and is intended to inspire gardens to advance their own garden sustainability operations and programs.

Once a month for a year APGA will host a webinar that focus on one of the twelve attributes of the Sustainability Index. Three speakers from gardens that have achieved excellence in that attribute will share their insights on how they worked on reaching the KPIs connected to that specific attribute.  The webinar will be followed by a 45 minutes Insights session were you get to discuss and ask detailed questions to the participants.

Where to begin?

Visit APGA's page for the Public Gardens Sustainability Index. There you will find extensive tools and information on where to begin, including workbooks with KPIs, self-assessments in order to get an understanding of where you are at today, how the attributes relate to the UN SDG goals and much more.

A useful intro to the Sustainability Index was given at the "Lunch and Learn: How can my garden be more sustainable?" held July 7th by APGA. We have included the presentation pfd to this article the video on about 30 min can be accessed here (free). A special thanks to Alexis Bacon and Lauren Garcia Chance for the presentation and the work with the Public Gardens Sustainability Index.

IrisBG users that have achieved excellence in one or more attributes

Working towards one or more of the Sustainability attributes comes with bragging rights, here's some of the members of our own community that deserve some extra attention for their work. Throughout the year we hope that this list will include more of you – let us know and we will add you.

• Filoli | Water Quality & Consumption
  Read about how they have incorporated their new best practices.
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  
  • Biodiversity & Conservation: Read about how they have incorporated their new best practices.
  • Water Quality & Consumption: Read about how they have incorporated their new best practices.
• Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden | Employee Development, Diversity, & Inclusion
• Mt. Cuba Center | Employee Development, Diversity, & Inclusion
  Read about how they have incorporated their new best practices.
• Naples Botanical Garden | Water Quality & Consumption
  Read about how they have incorporated their new best practices.
• Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens
  • Energy Use & Impacts: Read about how they have incorporated their new best practices.
  • Health & Well-Being: Read about how they have incorporated their new best practices.
  • Business Management & Planning
• Polly Hill Arboretum | Biodiversity & Conservation
  Read about how they have incorporated their new best practices.
• Queens Botanical Garden | Sustainable Community Development
• The Botanic Garden of Smith College | Employee Development, Diversity, & Inclusion
• State Botanical Garden of Georgia | Biodiversity & Conservation
  Read about how they have incorporated their new best practices.
• Vizcaya Museum & Gardens | Employee Development, Diversity, & Inclusion