GODFREY — Members of Lewis and Clark Community College gathered Tuesday morning in The Commons area to reveal plans for this year’s for the Monticello Sculpture Gardens show, marking 10 years since the start of the garden shows began in 2013.
This year’s theme is Discover Monticello Sculpture Gardens. Lead L&C gardener Katie Piper said the theme was inspired by the rebranding that the college took on last year.
“We wanted to take the opportunity of Lewis and Clark launching a new brand to reintroduce ourselves,” she said.
The show this year will feature the college’s various pocket gardens, including Fountain Court, The Grove, the Hathaway West garden, The Bosque and the River of Color garden.
In addition, the show will feature the debut of a perennial garden near the entrance of Wade Hall. Piper said that this will be the first garden on campus that will be “native with intention,” according to Piper.
“It’s going to be packed with plants that belong here in our local ecosystem and support our native pollinators,” she said.
The college also will be offering educational workshops throughout the gardening season.
“We want visitors to be able to come to the gardens and work with us, and learn with us,” Piper said. “In the end, we just want to be a hub for horticultural knowledge and education.”
The Monticello Sculpture Gardens have been designated by Missouri Botanical Garden as one of their Signature Gardens in Illinois. The gardens are designed to feature seasonal interest and fragrance, a complexity of foliage texture and color and horticultural excellence.
Free guided group tours are available by reservation Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., by emailing ebraasch@lc.edu and requesting a tour.
dylan.suttles@thetelegraph.com