Welcome to the South Carolina Botanical Garden - Educational Programs

An Outdoor Classroom

Botanical gardens have lovely displays of flowering plants, labeled collections of trees and shrubs, and are places to relax and enjoy nature. The South Carolina Botanical Garden is all this and more. The Garden is a living resource for the people of South Carolina.

Due to its close ties to Clemson University, the faculty, staff, and students make much use of its facilities. There are many learning opportunities for the community as well. What follows is a brief synopsis of the numerous educational activities which take place in this place "where nature and culture meet."

Many faculty use laboratory time to provide students with hands-on learning experiences at the South Carolina Botanical Garden Horticulture, Landscape Design, Weed Science, Botany and Forestry classes make regular visits to the Garden to learn identification characteristics of the plant materials they're studying and to see them growing in a natural setting. Many of the specimens are labeled so students can return on their own to refresh their memories.

Horticulture students enrolled in landscape and floral design classes use the Garden's resources as well. Floral design classes occasionally gather materials for use in arrangements. The landscape design class frequently uses Garden sites for design projects. Each student prepares a drawing for the selected area, and one of the better designs is actually installed by the students.

Two Students Study Hormone Levels in Turtles

Agriculture Mechanization students have practiced surveying techniques at the Garden. Their surveys have then been utilized in base maps by landscape design students.

The Garden's aquatic resources are teeming with life, so water samples gathered here provide Biological Science students with ample material for microscopic observation.

Students in Entomology labs frequently visit the Garden to collect insects. Plant Pathology students studying diseases of ornamentals come in search of common diseases each spring.

The Garden's potential as a learning environment is not limited to the scientific subjects. Art classes often practice their skills in this extraordinary outdoor studio, creating drawings and temporary sculptures.