History
In the center of Baton Rouge, on 440 acres of land, is the Burden Museum and Gardens. It comprises the Windrush Gardens, the Rural Life Museum, and the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens. The Burden family owned the property from the middle of the eighteenth century until this was said. To the LSU System in 1966. The benefactors were Mrs. Jeanette Burden, widow of their brother Pike Burden, Steele Burden, a former associate dean of women at LSU, and his sister, Lone Burden, a former campus gardener.
The Burden family gave the area for horticultural, agronomic, and environmental research and extension, the Rural Life Museum, and public green space. The Burden Foundation was established to make sure the facility complied with the donation’s basic requirements and to give it financial support.
The Botanic Gardens provide financial assistance to various research and extension initiatives. These programs focus on agronomy, soil and environmental sciences, turfgrass, vegetable crops, fruit crops, ornamentals, landscaping, home gardening, and wetlands. In addition, it is in charge of the historically significant Windrush Gardens. Amenities at Botanic Gardens include the lone Burden Conference Center, the Steele Burden Memorial Orangerie, the Children’s Garden, Tropical Garden, Herb Garden, Rose Garden, Stone Camellia Collection, Burden Woods, Trees and Trails, Barton Arboretum, and Black Swamp. Other attractions at Botanic Gardens include the Stone Camellia Collection and the Burden Woods.
Cultural Landscape Report
The Cultural Landscape Report describes the landscape’s historical background, identifies kept traits, pinpoints areas that have lost their original integrity and need design intervention, and articulates the primary cultural resource qualities. The report includes these.
Mission
- The Baton Rouge Botanic Gardens aim to increase awareness of the importance of plants and their ecosystems to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the world’s mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness.
- Three methods may achieve the goal
- of researching and assisting others in investigating sustainable agricultural and horticultural species and landscapes.
- This initiative intends to educate the community by offering access to the research fields and gardens.
- Reconnecting people with the natural world by providing a variety of green spaces and specialized facilities where they can commune with nature, have meaningful conversations with one another, and build communities.
Vision
Botanic Gardens’ mission is to become the most influential horticultural research and outreach center in the United States and to affect the rest of the globe. This goal is similar to how Steele Burden strived to improve with each garden he planned.
Master Plan
Suzanne Turner and Associates and CARBO Landscape Architecture collaborated in 2021 to revise the Burden Museum & Gardens Master Plan. Plan revisal will be completed in 2021. The Rural Life Museum and the Botanic Gardens will continue to be a wonderful gift to the community due to the work that will be done during the next two years as part of the project that will provide them with a unified vision and mission. The Rural Life Museum and the Botanic Gardens will continue to pursue their tasks. Still, a plan in place will eventually unify the museums’ operations, programming, and physical connectivity, as well as the development of brand new and exciting destinations.
Garden
A Children’s Garden
The Children’s Garden was created for enjoyment by people of all ages, although it kids-only. You’ll see tasty plants and butterflies as you walk around the paths. Since the garden is continually changing, there’s always fresh flora to see. They welcome youngsters. Empty stomach, open mind: admire the garden. The garden generates. Seasonally, different food plants are grown. Children insist on biting a tomato, plucking some broccoli, pulling a carrot, or pulling a radish. They genuinely want to help our kids have a broader palate!
Herb Garden
This garden, supported by the Herb Society of America’s Baton Rouge Chapter, serves as a resource for anybody interested in herbal plants and how they may benefit our mind, body, and soul. Four distinct gardens, each with a unique theme and representing the diverse influences of the peoples that have lived in our state, will make up the herb garden. The first garden, dubbed the “Louisiana Kitchen Garden,” was set up in 2015 and featured culinary and medicinal plants prevalent in our first gardens. Visitors may discover the historical significance of these plants and their current use. The remaining gardens will be set up shortly and reflect the effects of the European immigrants who arrived in Louisiana. Each brought unique gardening techniques and plant varieties, including Native Americans, Africans, Caribbean Islanders, French, Spanish, and other Europeans. The “Natural Garden,” the last area of the garden, will include local herbal plants.
Pollinator Garden
The Pollinator Garden and Children’s Playground is an excellent location for education and exploration. Children may engage in an enjoyable, inspiring exploration of the marvels of the outer world. In addition to a playground where kids may climb honeycombs, converse through flower heads, ride on the backs of honeybees, and see-saw on dragonflies, there is interactive nature signage highlighting pollinators like bees and butterflies. The pollinators required for pollinating fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, apples, blueberries, and other blooming plants, are taught to children.
Tropical Garden
The Tropical Garden has a notable ginger collection. These gingers came from tropical locations like Southeast Asia. Plumeria, bromeliads, alocacia, and colocasia grow in this garden. July-Septemberfinest for visiting this garden.
Windrush Gardens
Steele Burden, the eldest member of the Burden family, has dedicated his life to creating Windrush Gardens. Steele was a self-taught landscape architect who had a natural talent for the arts. In addition to working in some plantation gardens that still exist from the 19th century in Louisiana, Steele traveled to significant European parks. His method of garden design and his life’s work, Windrush Gardens, was inspired by both of these previous garden forms. Magnificent live oaks and venerable crape myrtles, which provide a dark canopy over azaleas and camellias and evoke a feeling of tranquillity and peace, are some of Steele’s favorite landscaping plants that are included in the gardens. The 25 acres of beautiful landscapes are perfect for wandering along the meandering trails.
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For more information, visit their site or call (225) 763-3990.