What is a botanical garden? A botanical garden is a collection of plants--but not just any random selection of plants. The plants are scientifically ordered and maintained, documented, and labeled for public education, research, and enjoyment.
Why is there a Botanic Garden at Smith College? The Smith College Botanic Garden has a long history and is the result of much hard work and dedication. Incorporating the study of plants into academics was an insightful idea in 1875, and it still is.
Today, the Botanic Garden includes thousands of plants, of course, and not just those grown under glass in the Lyman Conservatory or outdoors in various not-so-secret gardens. After all, Smith's 150-acre campus--our landscape for learning--is an arboretum, in other words, a living museum of plants. There is also a collection of dried plants. There are 60,000 pressed specimens available for research in the Herbarium.
Botanic Garden activities and collections include not only plants but also books and other resource materials (including our newsletter, Botanic Garden News), an international seed exchange, research and conservation, and diverse events. Yet the living plant specimens are the heart of the Botanic Garden and our bridge to the rest of the botanical world, past, present, and future.
