Tour 3 Gardens

Yew Dell Botanical Gardens
www.yewdellgardens.org

Yew Dell is an internationally-recognized center of gardening, plants, and education. The home, gardens, and commercial nursery were originally owned by a locally renowned nurseryman, Theodore Klein and his family.

The gardens at Yew Dell offer a delightful place to spend a day, to learn about new plants, and to provide an opportunity to check out design details for your own garden. The gardens range from formal to informal and feature trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, and more.

Yew Dell is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Preservation Partner Project of the Garden Conservancy, a national non-profit dedicated to saving the nation’s most exceptional gardens.

Yew Dell’s gardens also support ongoing research. The Theodore Klein Plant Awards program promotes superior woody and herbaceous plants for Kentuckiana landscapes. Each year, they recognize plants that offer excellent ornamental and performance characteristics in the regional climate. Award winners are selected each year by a panel of plant professionals representing Yew Dell, the Kentucky Nursery and Landscape Association, University of Kentucky Landscape and Nursery program, and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

The Avish Gardens

The Avish sits on 24 acres of bucolic countryside. Expanded significantly over time, the estate, currently owned by Mary Kay and Steve Poe, now contains a mansion that measures more than 20,000 square feet, a barn, garden house, greenhouses and a two-bed guest house. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The estate, built in 1910 by liquor magnate and philanthropist Owsley Brown Frazier, boasts 6-8 acres of gardens and greenhouses, 20 kitchen garden beds, multiple flower beds, 2 greenhouses and winter garden beds. These gardens flourished up until the time of Frazier’s death in 2012.

In 2018, Botanica* announced a partnership with the owners of The Avish to use their gardens for future educational programs and, in return, is helping to restore The Avish gardens to their former glory.

*Botanica, Inc. is a Louisville non-profit organization that is working to create the Waterfront Botanical Gardens on a 23-acre site at Frankfort Avenue and River Road in Louisville. The mission of Botanica is to develop experiences that promote appreciation and understanding of plants for a more harmonious and sustainable world.

Gardens in downtown New Albany

Fairmount Community Health Garden
“Let Us Learn” is a completely volunteer-run organization focused on garden-to-table nutrition. Classes and events provide education and support in growing food, selecting nutritious options, learning how to cook with produce, and helping provide community members with fresh produce.

Let Us Learn helps to maintain the Fairmont Community Health Garden at Fairmont Elementary School. The “Veggie Rescue” program takes place each Saturday throughout the New Albany Farmers Market season. Generous farmers donate surplus produce at the end of each market day and then Let Us Learn gives the produce to anyone who needs it.

Book Gardens at the Floyd County Public Library
In 2017 the popular book gardens at the Floyd County Public Library were established. The Floyd County ANR Extension Educator worked with the library staff to pick books that are well known and invoked garden themes. The books selected in 2017 were Alice in Wonderland, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, The Wizard of Oz, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Where the Wild Things Are, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Color Purple, Peter Rabbit, and the Harry Potter series. In 2018, The Color Purple garden was left as a standing garden because it represents the colors of the library. The other books selected for 2018 were A Wrinkle in Time, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Frankenstein, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Strawberry Girl, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Cat in the Hat, and Jack and the Bean Stalk.

Librarians note the gardens have encouraged people to visit the library.

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