Alan Yorker introduced our speaker, Kate McAlpin, executive director of Woodlands Garden, commenting that the garden "is a wonderment to behold."

 

 

Kate last addressed the club in December, 2018 and a lot has improved with Woodlands Garden since then.  

 

Woodlands Garden’s mission statement is "preserving a woodland garden as an urban sanctuary to educate and engage the community in the natural world."

 

 

When Dr. Chester Morse of Massachusetts and Eugenia Slack Morse of Decatur first moved to this wooded land in 1946, Scott Boulevard was a dirt road and their property, an old farm site, was a honeysuckle jungle. Chet and Gene added to their original small parcel to create the seven-acre tract that is now Woodlands Garden. In 2002, Chet and Gene Morse arranged to have their Decatur home and its surrounding seven acres permanently preserved from development, so future generations could experience and enjoy their wooded estate. They understood the importance of tempering Decatur’s rapid urbanization (projected 29 percent growth in 20 years) and turned down large offers from developers.

 

 

Kate said the Woodlands is truly a public and free garden, open every day and is "for all of us."

 

In 2018 the garden was closed for a major $1.3M rehabilitation. It is now much more inclusive, able to accommodate school buses and emergency vehicles, and is ADA compliant. Kate told us how to get involved: Business sponsorships of the Fairies in the Garden program; fall plant sale; become a donor; give a Tribute Tree; volunteers are welcome and board members are needed.