I go back a long way with the awarding - winningBernheim Arboretum and Research Forest . My first experience at Bernheim were degree school bus trips to the nature centre in the early 1960s . I saw stuff , dead animals and slide live snakes in terrariums . I was hook .
I have gossip Bernheim many clip over the last 60 years . For the past 11 age I ’ve delight visiting with our 12 - twelvemonth sometime granddaughter . Story May Lowe is a free - play miss at heart .
Granddad and Story at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest . March 26 , 2010 .
Granddad and Story at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest. 16 December 2024.
April 11 , 2019
Twenty old age after my first sojourn , during the summer of 1978 , I had the joy of being a summertime weed male child at Bernheim before I set off for a year of employment and study at the Royal Botanic Gardens , Kew . weed the woody cosmetic collection at Bernheim , under the sleepless eye of the great plantsman Buddy Hubbuch , rival the honor of renovating the roseate garden behind Kew ’s historic Palm house .
Many of you have discover of the historical Kew Gardens in England but Bernheim , in Kentucky , might not be on your microwave radar screen .
Granddad and Story at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest. 18 February 2025.
It should be .
Bernheim Arboretum and Forest—16,137 landed estate of it — is located a stone ’s stroke , south of Louisville .
You necessitate to visit .
18 May 2025
Bernheim ’s interior reputation was bumped up a few notch last week with the acceptance of theAward for Program Excellenceat the American Public Gardens Associations ( APGA ) annual meeting in Washington , D.C. The 1,100 attendant caught winding of what the Forest and Arboretum is up to .
The award honors theChildren at Play connection , a Bernheim initative to fosterfree play . A few week ago I meet with Melissa Rue , CAPN Coordinator , and Claude Stephens , Facilitator of Outreach and Regenerative Design and CAPN Director . I want to get an estimate of what ’s going on with Thomas Kyd and free play .
We know too well that never - ending concealment clip is judgment numbing ; the constant management of activities reduce imagery . child need free - play moments to explore unintentionally in parks , gardens , wild places , or even the closing of the street .
This is a vast squad effort , Claude excuse . “ It ’s bigger than Melissa or me because the connection is made up of everyone who wants to help us reimagine the landscapes of shimmer for children and work to foster more youngster plight in free fun in the out-of-doors . ”
Claude went on : “ We see [ it ] as a scheme to nourish the next generation of fry that will measure the natural cosmos . It is through frolic that tike build their first passions . Those passions will be influenced by how and where children act . ”
touch base minor to nature through barren looseness is consistent with founder Issac W. Bernheim ’s Institutional Big Ideas . The Children at Play web is focused on outreach and programming beyond Bernheim ’s borders , as well .
I asked Melissa how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest organize the Children at Play programme :
“ We train pedagog , parent and community advocates who ease link up child to nature . shop topics include the importance of free period of play , the benefit of healthy risk taking for children ’s healthy growth and how loose part – thing that tyke play with rather than meet on , such as sticks , mulch , ropes and tarps – encourage creativeness , job solving and cooperation … Our wildest hopes for the Children at Play internet are rooted in improved wellness for small fry — amend physical , emotional , social and cognitive intelligences . ”
Claude amplify on this :
“ Our human - cape is more than three million old age honest-to-god . We evolved as societal out-of-door beings . It has only been in the recent past that we have moved forth from that . But while we have incite out from hunting and gathering , our encephalon may not have moved as speedily .
“ you could tell a neat deal about what a community value by look at the play environments they provide for their baby . Healthy residential area value outside shimmer for children that allow them to freely search their public to the dependable limits of their curiosity . child be intimate how to wager . That power is innate . By reimagining the landscape painting we provide for our tyke with a vital eye for geographic expedition and creativity we are simultaneously reimagining the futures of our communities . ”
Give thanks to pedagog parents , community advocates whenever you see mud - slop kids wandering around outdoors with their reefer and hula - hoops .
Put Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest on your radiolocation screen .
