Alaska Botanical Garden

Alaska Botanical Garden is where northern horticulture and native plants are showcased throughout a 110 acre spruce and birch woodland in Anchorage, Alaska.

The mission of the Alaska Botanical Garden is to enhance the beauty and value of plant material through education, preservation, recreation, and research.

The Garden is located in Anchorage, just South of Tudor Road at 4601 Campbell Airstrip Road, adjacent to Far North Bicentennial Park. Bordering the Garden to the East is the north fork of Campbell Creek, which has a summer Chinook (King) salmon run. Chugach State Park is also nearby.

With over 1,100 species of hardy perennials, and 150 native plant species, the Alaska Botanical Garden is the place to experience the abundance of the summer sub-arctic growing season and to learn about flora native to southcentral Alaska. From May through September (and occasionally into October) you will find flowering plants and shrubs in two perennial gardens, a formal herb garden, an alpine rock garden, and a wildflower walk. A new Perennial Border Garden is currently under construction.

Planning for the Alaska Botanical Garden started in 1983 as members of the Alaska Horticultural Association considered the creation of an arboretum and the idea grew. The organization was officially incorporated as an Alaskan non-profit in 1986, and began the process of developing a “Master Plan” to guide the creation of gardens and infrastructure elements. In 1990, ABG signed a land use agreement with the Municipality of Anchorage. Ten years after the initial planning, the first gardens were planted and the Grand Opening took place on July 25, 1993.

A revised Master Plan was adopted by the ABG Board of Directors in 2002, and in 2003, ABG signed another long-term lease with the Municipality for additional adjacent acreage. Today, the Alaska Botanical Garden occupies about 110 acres between the Far North Bicentennial Park and Benny Benson School. A large percentage of the land will remain in a natural state, with individual “gardens-within-the-Garden” interconnected by trails through the boreal forest.

The land that Alaska Botanical Garden now oversees has had many different occupants and owners over the years. Once used by the Athabascan people, the property has since been under the federal, then state, and finally municipal administration. During the 1940s and 1950s, the area was used for maneuvers and training by the US Army, and the trails in the area were a part of the extensive “Bull Dog Trail” network that extended from Ft. Richardson to the Campbell Army Air Corps airfield in what is now Far North Bicentennial Park.

--http://www.alaskabg.org