Feb

Today in Smithsonian History: February 29, 1976

Office of Horticulture's Barbara Diehl, Barbara Mosely and gardener Ray Dudley gather for a group photo. (Photo by Richard Hofmeister, as featured in the Torch, September 1977)

The Office of Horticulture’s Barbara Diehl, Barbara Mosely and gardener Ray Dudley gather for a group photo. (Photo by Richard Hofmeister, as featured in the Torch, September 1977)

February 29, 1976: The Horticultural Services Division of the Office of Plant Services is reorganized and transferred to the Office of Museum Programs as the Office of Horticulture. Although the discipline of horticulture became part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1972, it was not until 1976 that horticulture was recognized as an official museum program rather than as a grounds maintenance program.

Today Smithsonian Gardens creates and manages the Smithsonian’s outdoor gardens, interiorscapes, and horticulture-related collections and exhibits, including the Butterfly Habitat Garden, the Heirloom Garden and the Urban Bird Habitat.

: Located directly above the National Museum of African Art, S. Dillon Ripley Center, and Arthur M.Sackler Gallery, the 4.2-acre Enid A. Haupt Garden is actually a rooftop garden. It comprises three separate gardens, each reflecting the cultural influences celebrated in the adjacent architecture and the museums below.

: The Smithsonian Gardens greenhouse facility is the permanent home of Smithsonian Gardens’ Greenhouse Nursery Operations. It serves as the base of production and maintenance of plant material for the gardens and horticultural exhibits throughout the Smithsonian Institution. It houses the Smithsonian Orchid Collection, tropical plant specimens, and interior display plants, and also includes a greenhouse devoted to nectar plants used for the Butterfly Pavilion at the National Museum of Natural History.

: The Butterfly Habitat Garden, a joint project with the National Museum of Natural History, features different habitats frequented by butterflies (wetlands, meadow, woodland edge, urban garden) and informational signage about their life cycles and behaviors. Created in 1995 and significantly expanded in 2000, the garden was made possible by funding from The Garden Club of America and the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.