The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden presents "Children in Nature - Prescription for a Healthy Planet" during its Eighth Annual Conservation Symposium, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 11 at the County Education Office, 4400 Cathedral Oaks Road.
Join educators, policymakers, conservationists and parents as we welcome world-renowned author Richard Louv and local leaders to explore the issue of reconnecting our children to nature.
If you’ve ever walked into a native plant nursery and felt defeated because — admit it — all the offerings looked like 4-inch pots of weeds, do we have the shopping/planning guide for you: a set of easy-to-carry flash cards that explain in brilliant color what those nondescript little plants will look like when they’re all grown up.
Studies have shown that backyard conservation, providing a food and nectar source and a place for the butterflies to lay eggs, is an incredibly important tool when addressing the declining population.
Joseph Rothleutner is new director of horticulture and facilities at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
Rothleutner served as the director of horticulture at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, where he helped redefine the zoo’s use of the term wildlife to be inclusive of animals and plants. Under his tenure, the Lincoln Park Zoo achieved accreditation as an arboretum.
