John Park

The New York Botanical Garden is an iconic living museum and, since its founding in 1891, has served as an oasis in this busy metropolis. As a National Historic Landmark, this 250-acre site's verdant landscape supports over one million living plants in extensive collections. Each year more than one million visitors enjoy the Garden not only for its remarkable diversity of tropical, temperate, and desert flora, but also for programming that ranges from renowned exhibitions in the Haupt Conservatory to festivals on Daffodil Hill. The Garden is also a major educational institution. More than 300,000 people annually—among them Bronx families, school children, and teachers—learn about plant science, ecology, and healthful eating through NYBG's hands-on,curriculum-based programming. Nearly 90,000 of those visitors are children from underserved neighboring communities, while more than 3,000 are teachers from New York City's public school system participating in professional development programs that train them to teach science courses at all grade levels. NYBG operates one of the world's largest plant research and conservation programs, with nearly 200 staff members—including 80 Ph.D. scientists—working in the Garden's state-of-the-art molecular labs as well as in the field, where they lead programs in 49 countries.