Annual Membership To Your Favorite Botanical Garden
 (Read 500+ times)
By Glory Lennon
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Your love of plants and all things nature has lead you to get a membership to your local and/or favorite Botanical garden, Arboretum or Conservatory. This is a wonderful thing and one that will bring much enjoyment to your life. The many benefits to this limitless access to your favorite Horticultural haven are countless. With every time you go you’ll relieve stress, get a bit of exercise, some sun, see lovely gardens with flowers, trees and shrubs in constant, ever-changing array.
You’ll spot an occasional sculpture, fountain or waterfall and no doubt you’ll see some rather nice, friendly folks volunteering to keep it looking its best who will chat with you about that unusual plant they are pruning, propagating or planting. You’ll have butterflies flutter by your nose, chipmunks will scamper across your path usually followed by a cat, birds will swoop around building nests and feeding their young. You can join a Tai chi class in the morning on the great lawn or take a meditation class in the afternoon. You can ride your bike, hike or jog through anytime you like. Peace and tranquility abound and all for one price.
Yes, membership to a botanical garden is an amazing thing. But what if you are at once a gardening enthusiast and a lover of travel? Well, then it would behoove you to combine these two passions. How to do this is rather simple and virtually painless especially with your Botanical garden membership card in hand. In lieu of other less enjoyable touristy things to do you can include a leisurely visit to the local Botanical gardens wherever you choose to wander, vacation or pass through on your way elsewhere.
As you’re likely to find a garden almost everywhere you go and some of them, depending on how far and wide you travel, can be quite different from what you are used to. This will give you a whole new perspective on plants, garden types, styles and designs. You may see plants, trees, vines, herbs, shrubs, annuals and perennials you never saw before. You might even learn something. And that’s saying nothing about sculptures, musical shows and other things readily available at many Botanical gardens.
But how, you may ask? You only have a membership to one garden not all of them. As you may already know admission to Botanical gardens, arboreta and conservatories, at least the very good ones, can cost a pretty penny. One time admission to some gardens can be as much as twenty-five US dollars per person. This is not saying they are not well worth the cost. But as getting things for less money is always better here’s a trick little known to the average person. The other great thing about getting a membership to your favorite Botanical garden is that it may already be part of the American Horticultural Society Reciprocal Admissions Program.
What this means is because you are a member of another garden on this extensive list you may have low cost or free admission to other gardens, hundreds and hundreds of them all over North America. How can you tell if your garden is a part of this miraculous boon to the garden enthusiast? A quick visit to the website of the American Horticultural Society at www.ahs.org will allow you access to this list.
Check to see if your Botanical garden is there and if it isn’t ask someone at your Botanical garden to be part of it. If they choose not to be part of this you’ll know to get a membership the following year at one that is. This would save you hundreds of dollars annually, depending of course on how many gardens you would like to visit in all your travels.
You can also become a member of the American Horticultural Society itself. This membership will gain you access to hundreds of Botanical gardens, arboreta and conservatories all over North America, some at discounted admission but many more for free. There are other nice extras to this membership like discounts at gift shops, plant sales, for educational programs and special events at Botanical gardens, arboreta and conservatories on their list. With one relatively low price you can have almost the entire horticultural world at your disposal. Sounds rather good, doesn’t it? So, dear, gardener, what are you waiting for?
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
 Visit http://www.helium.com/users/32782 for more fascinating gardening lessons, amusing short stories and intriguing novel excerpts.
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