What a Garden Celebrating its 10th Anniversary 

can be, and become, and is becoming

REGIONAL LEARNING SERIES at Pittsburgh Botanic Garden

PUBLIC GARDEN MAGAZINE. Volume 40. Issue 4, 2025.

By Richard A. Doran, Associate Director, Advocacy

Garden Professionals from Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and beyond gathered at the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden September 25 for the first of three Regional Learning Series in the fall of 2025.

Executive Director Keith S. Kaiser described the 37-year journey to the garden’s 10th Anniversary, transforming a former mine site into a now-65-acre public garden. Garden staff expanded on the day’s theme of “Making It Fun” with insight into their guest services, human resources, marketing, education, and horticulture. 

One of the Making It Fun examples was presenting an exhibition of staff artwork, which was so much appreciated that an exhibition of Member artwork was added. 

Tours of the garden highlighted the Educational and Horticultural aspects of the garden, including the “bird planted” Dogwood Meadow and the Lotus Pond. The Pond includes a boardwalk covering a limestone water treatment installation to detoxify the water from an abandoned mine shaft.

Above the pond floats Elevated Reflection by Patrick Shearn of Poetic Kinetics—one of two installations commissioned to celebrate a decade of growth at the garden. Its 1,500-square-foot canopy glimmers and shifts as wind passes through, producing a mesmerizing dialogue between sky and surface. 

The second, Vivid Echo, is installed in the Garden of the Five Senses, where hundreds of colorful fabric streamers, many hand-inscribed with personal messages, ripple gently in the breeze. An interactive experience, visitors can walk through the streamers.

Over 11,000 fabric elements were assembled by hand to bring these works to life. Shaped by wind, sunlight, and weather, the sculptures reflect our relationship with the environment—and how unseen forces continuously shape our lives.

The day concluded at the garden’s 1790-era Walker-Ewing-Glass Log House where re-enactors told the story of the Whiskey Rebellion and talked with APGA members and garden staff over apple cider and apple turnovers.

 APGA’s Regional Learning Series bring expert-led, in-person professional development workshops right to you. Featuring regional host gardens, these one day events combine insightful presentations with exclusive “behind-the-scenes” tours, guided by the garden and regions’ own experts and staff. With topics tailored to each garden’s unique mission, you’re sure to find valuable insights. 

See the full issue of PUBLIC GARDEN MAGAZINE. Volume 40, Issue 4: here