When I joined in 2002,
I saw the garden as an adolescent in a city which was growing up,” says Mary Pat Matheson. “I realised it had huge potential for growth and my expertise is in raising money to build gardens. It had some great staff, as well as the largest collection of carnivorous plants in the world and the largest collection of orchids in the US. I told the executive committee that I wanted to create big exhibitions and they gave me the freedom to be creative.”

Matheson kept true to her word; under her stewardship Atlanta Botanical Garden, located in Atlanta, Georgia, has gone from strength to strength. She has increased annual visits from 120,000 to 500,000, as well as raising funds and overseeing an ambitious expansion of the main site and the launch of a second, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Gainsville.

One of Matheson’s ideas credited with putting the attraction on the map was to turn it into an outdoor art gallery, inserting sculpture among the plants.

The first exhibition – a glass sculpture of Dale Chihuly, in 2004 – helped lay the groundwork for the first capital campaign. However, the second time the artist was showcased, in 2016, it was worth an estimated US$50m to US$60m for the city.

A museum without walls
In 2009, the gardens played host to the largest collection of Henry Moore bronze sculptures ever seen in the US. Four years later, the attraction commissioned Mosaiculture International of Montreal to create some of its massive sculptures made out of plants for the Imaginery Worlds exhibition. Some of these remain at the Gainsville location.

“Gardens are simply museums without walls, and the best canvas to showcase sculpture and art,” says Matheson. “There’s often the perception that museums aren’t open to everyone, but gardens don’t have the same exclusivity: everyone enjoys being out in nature. It has been a privilege to be able to showcase such iconic artwork in such a serene setting.”

Another Matheson win has been to diversify to bring in new audiences.

“In a competitive environment you need to offer more than just hydrangeas in bloom. I work by the mantra that it all begins with the visitor: educate them, get them to join as a member or become a donor,” she says. “In order to attract different audiences, we needed to offer different opportunities. In 2002 we had some families visiting, but no young people. So we started holding cocktail evenings aimed at those in their mid-20s to late 30s. All the marketing was done electronically and it was very successful.”

These evenings have now become established in the city, with older people coming in the early evening to have a glass of wine and listen to music and then a younger crowd arriving later.

Time to expand
A variation of the social offering has been culinary experiences, with the attraction’s chefs cooking outdoors: “Who doesn’t like being cooked for by a great chef in nice outdoor surroundings?” says Matheson.

A major part of the annual event calendar is the holiday light show at Christmas, which is one of the biggest in the US. It draws 185,000 people, from all over the south east, having a major economic impact on hotels and restaurants.

With the gardens’ popularity growing, Matheson saw the opportunity to expand and in 2012 successfully completed a US$55m capital campaign which enabled the expansion of the garden with a new visitor centre, an edible garden, a cascade garden with waterfalls and a flagship 180-metre canopy walk being added.

Once that was completed, work started on creating a second site in Gainsville, which was launched in 2015. “We were simply out of space,” says Matheson. “Part of our mission is to work with other countries to save species – we are actively involved in many countries including Cuba, China and Vietnam – so we needed more room for nurseries in order to do our conservation work. Gainsville is much bigger than the main site and has given us the chance to grow.

Urban oasis
Going forward, as more people live in cities than rural areas, Matheson predicts public gardens will become ever more important for health and wellbeing, both mentally and physically. “There’s more pressure on everyone now and many studies show that in order to be healthy, humans need nature,” she says. “Gardens offer people the opportunity to slow down and feel more human again, replenish their spirit and relieve the stress of the city. We’re an urban oasis in a concrete city.”

A challenging aspect of the job has been the constant push to evolve and raise the bar on quality, which involves always fund raising. However, this is Matheson’s speciality: “Good planning is the key,”she says. “We know where we want to be in five years time. We think of it like a business, but operate like a non-profit. And, the more successful we become the easier it gets: investors want to invest in success and we have a great product which everyone loves.”