Gardens are meant to grow and flourish, especially if they are carefully cultivated with a little water and a lot of love.
Sherman Library & Gardens, a nonprofit organization and destination in Corona del Mar that serves as an educational and cultural center (including a premier botanical garden and outstanding research library) has been nourishing visitors for nearly 60 years. It too is ready to grow and flourish.
Last month, Sherman Library & Gardens launched its Grow the Gardens campaign, which seeks to raise at least $13 million to reconfigure, renovate and reimagine the property. To date, more than half of the total estimated funding for the campaign has been raised.
According to information from Sherman Library & Gardens, the Grow the Gardens campaign will support improvements designed to create more opportunities for the community, including:
- A new education space and programs that will enhance the community’s encounter with the botanical and historical wonder of the Pacific Southwest.
- The tropical conservatory and the shade house, both used extensively in the education programs, will be renovated to protect the health of the valuable plant collections such as Orchids.
- These improvements will make Sherman Library & Gardens the most accessible and walkable botanical garden in Southern California, enabling its visitors to see a vast array of global beauty on a calm and relaxing stroll.
- The 3,000 member households and 8,000 individual members of the Sherman Library & Gardens will greatly benefit from the increased accessibility, renovated amenities, and enhanced program offerings improving their overall health and wellbeing.
“We strive every day to fulfill our mission to inspire and educate the community with an appreciation of history, horticulture and the arts,” Scott LaFleur, executive director of Sherman Library & Gardens, told the crowd of supporters and donors at the Grow the Gardens announcement. “The education program continues to drive the Sherman Library and Gardens’ mission of providing people of all ages and backgrounds with an opportunity to engage and connect with nature. Now, Sherman Library and Gardens is undergoing a renaissance. We have a vision for the future. We are growing the gardens. We want to respect the past, preserve the history and leave a legacy.”
According to LaFleur, they will rededicate the central patio for educational programming. The restaurant will be relocated to Pacific Coast Highway and a rooftop deck will be added, thereby raising the dining experience.
“The symbol of our renaissance will feature a bell from Sherman’s ranch in Baja, California,” said LaFleur. “This will be our new front door.”
Among the names LaFleur cited as naming donors were the Julia Argyros Bell Tower, the Samueli Central Garden Walk, and the Jennifer and Anton Segerstrom Conservatory.
Longtime Newport Beach residents Janet and Walkie Ray are heading the Grow the Gardens committee.
LaFleur noted that “there are many opportunities to weave your name into our story,”
And that to Grow the Gardens means welcoming more visitors, offering more community services and educational programs, supporting more local artists, authors, and performers, and celebrating more seasons of life with the families of Orange County.
For more information on the Grow the Gardens campaign, visit https://thesherman.org.
About Sherman Library & Gardens: Sherman Library & Gardens is a nonprofit that has been deeply rooted in Orange County for over half of a century, serving the community as a sanctuary and education beacon for history and beauty. Founded in 1966 by Arnold Haskell, and named for his friend and mentor, Moses Hazeltine Sherman, this iconic institution serves as a guardian of regional history and artifacts, a living library of plants both native and exotic, and a conservator of artistic works influenced by and produced in the Pacific Southwest.
Today, Sherman Library & Gardens is a monument to Haskell’s dream of an educational and cultural center including a premier botanical garden and outstanding research library. Sherman Library & Gardens was recently recognized by the Newport Beach City Council with a proclamation, naming Sherman Library & Gardens as the “Cultural Hub” of Corona del Mar. Sherman Library & Gardens is located at 2647 E. Coast Hwy., Corona del Mar.
