Children’s Walk Training 9/22/15

San Francisco Botanical Garden

1. The Garden is a 55 acre refuge for over 8,000 different kinds of plants from around the globe including

many that are rare and no longer found in the wild. The Bay Area's mild temperatures, wet winters and

dry summers, coupled with San Francisco's famous coastal fog, provide a range of climatic conditions

that exist in few other botanical gardens in the world.

2. SFBG is the world’s only garden with cloud forest collections from Mesoamerica, Andes and Southeast

Asia. Cloud forests are rare and rapidly disappearing high elevation rain forests found in tropical

latitudes.

3. SFBG has the world’s most significant collection of magnolias for conservation purposes outside China, with over 80 kinds (species and cultivars). Ranked 4th in the world; the top 3 are in China where majority of species grow.

4. The Garden’s Youth Education program serves over 12,000 children a year – reaching almost every

public elementary and K-8 school in San Francisco. Programs include guided school walks, Children’s

Garden school programs, a preschool program, summer programs for groups, Bean Sprouts Family

Days on Saturdays as well as special events.

5. The Garden’s Library is the most comprehensive horticultural collection in Northern California and hosts

rotating botanical-inspired art exhibits. The Library’s extensive children’s collection, Sunday morning

story times and summer reading club are wonderful resources for children and families.

6. The Garden is run by a public/private partnership between San Francisco Botanical Garden Society and

the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. The Recreation and Park Department provides

horticultural leadership and oversight, as well as management and maintenance of buildings and

grounds, including gardeners and their supervisors. With the help of its members, donors and

volunteers, the SFBGS funds Garden improvements, provides curatorial and plant collections

management services, propagates plants for sale to the public, maintains the Helen Crocker Russell

Library of Horticulture, offers year-round educational and community programming, operates the

Garden’s bookstore and welcomes annually more than 300,000 visitors from San Francisco, the Bay

Area and around the world.

7. There are many ways to volunteer time and skills to the Garden – volunteers contribute more than

40,000 hours a year to virtually every aspect of the Garden's operations. Volunteers guide visitors and

school children through the garden, staff special events, maintain the gardens, work in our Bookstore,

Plant Arbor and Library, help with graphic design and assist in our offices.

8. Visitors can take the Garden home by purchasing plants propagated from the Garden’s collections

everyday at the Plant Arbor and at Monthly Plant Sales at the Nursery. The small but mighty Garden

Bookstore has an amazing selection of books and gifts. Members receive discounts at both.

9. Member support is crucial to operating and maintaining the Garden. Seventy percent (70%) of what it

costs to operate the Garden comes from members, donors, and the Garden’s visitors. Members help to

share this beautiful garden, amazing plant collections and education and outreach programs with our

entire community and with visitors from all over the world. Member benefits include unlimited admission

for you plus a guest, quarterly member garden parties, discounts at our bookstore and plant sales with

the opportunity to come into our large annual Plant Sale ahead of other patrons, reciprocal privileges at

over 300 other gardens throughout the country, and more.