As we celebrate the life of our 39th President on this National Day of Mourning, let us visit the Carter Center on this episode.

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Music by Jason Shaw at ⁠AudionautiX⁠

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Featured image courtesy of Explore Georgia.

Transcript:

Hello Listeners,

Today is January 9th, and this is A Garden a Day with Mædunbroc Gardens.

Just a few days ago, on December 29, 2024, former President Jimmy Carter passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Plains, Georgia.  Today, the state funeral will be held in Washington, D.C.,  

and I thought for today’s garden, we would explore the Gardens at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail.

The Carter Presidential Center is located on thirty-five wooded acres and includes the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum as well as the Carter Center, a not-for-profit non-governmental organization committed to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering.

There are several gardens on the grounds including three acres of native oaks, a Japanese garden designed by Japanese Master Gardener Kinsaku Nakane, and a rose garden with more than forty varieties of roses.

The Japanese Garden is located between the upper and lower lakes and contains two waterfalls — the larger representing Jimmy Carter, and the smaller representing his wife, Rosalynn.  Rhododendrons, camellias, and azaleas adorn the garden.

The rose garden includes the Rosalynn Carter rose, an orange-red or coral hybrid tea rose with a strong spice scent introduced in the United States in 1978 by Conard-Pyle (Star Roses).

Ten years ago, in October 2014, former President Carter spent his 90th birthday in the new Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Pollinator Garden.  The garden includes green plants and blooms native to Georgia that provide nectar, food, and habitat for birds, bees, and wasps, including milkweed, a host plant for monarch butterflies.  

The garden is certified by Monarch Watch and National Wildlife Federation as an official monarch way station and a certified wildlife habitat.

The garden is also a stop on the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail.  The trail began in Plains, GA when Rosalynn Carter learned of the declining monarch butterfly population and wanted to help.  She asked her friend, Annette Wise, for advice in planting native plants to create an attractive monarch habitat.

Friends and neighbors in Plains learned what she was doing and planted their own pollinator gardens and so began the butterfly trail.

Today, there are twenty pollinator gardens on the trail in Plains, Georgia and more than 800 public, private, and school gardens around the country.  If you are interested in planting a pollinator garden or adding your garden to the trail, you will find resources on the Rosalyn Carter Butterfly Trail website — rosalyncarterbutterflytrail.org.  I’ve included a link to the website in the Notes.

Thank you for listening today.

If you like A Garden a Day, and I hope you do, please consider liking, subscribing, and telling your friends.  If you are able, please also consider giving us a five-star review.  It lets me know you like the show, and it also helps others find the podcast.  I really do appreciate it.  

If all goes well, I will be right back here tomorrow.  See you then!

To read more about the Carter Center and its gardens, follow these links:

⁠https://news.emory.edu/stories/2014/10/er_carter_90th_birthday/campus.html⁠

⁠https://www.cartercenter.org/documents/nondatabase/revised-garden-brochure.pdf⁠

⁠https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/pollinator-garden-dedication.html⁠

⁠https://rosalynncarterbutterflytrail.org/⁠

⁠https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Jimmy+and+Rosalynn+Carter+Pollinator+Garden&t=osx&ia=web⁠

⁠https://jimmycarter.info/2016/04/04/video-the-gift-of-a-garden-at-the-carter-center/⁠

⁠https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.5460⁠

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