Chestertown, MD — Holly H. Shimizu, Executive Director of the United States Botanic Garden, will present "The Garden as Sanctuary," a special address highlighting the Washington College Arbor Day celebration, at Litrenta Lecture Hall on Friday, April 24, at 5 p.m.
The celebration is sponsored by the Virginia Gent Decker Arboretum. Prior to Shimizu's talk, a tree dedication will be held on the Campus Lawn at 4:30 p.m.
As Executive Director of the United States Botanic Garden (USBG), Shimizu oversees the oldest botanic garden in North America. The complex includes the Conservatory and surrounding grounds, the Frederick Auguste Bartholdi Park, the three-acre site for the National Garden (west of the Conservatory), and the D.C. Village Production Facility, a nursery and greenhouse operation responsible for producing all the USBG plants and those for the entire Capitol Hill complex.
Under Shimizu's leadership since November 2000, the USBG has gained national recognition for its innovative exhibits as well as for its national partnerships with botanical institutions. She oversaw the redesign and installation of the new National Garden that opened in October 2006, and she coordinated production of a new book, A Botanic Garden for the Nation.
Shimizu is well known as one of the hosts of "The Victory Garden," a gardening show broadcast on public television stations in the United States and abroad. In addition, she has written for many books and magazines on a variety of horticultural, environmental and botanical subjects.
She holds an associate's degree in horticulture and landscape design from Temple University, a bachelor's degree in horticulture from Pennsylvania State University, and a master's degree in horticulture from the University of Maryland.
Litrenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center. Admission to Shimizu's presentation, and to the Campus Lawn tree dedication preceding it, is free and open to the public.
