A Teaching Greenhouse, Louisiana Nature Center
New Orleans Town Gardeners, Inc., Zone IX
1984 Founders Fund Winner
Located on an 86-acre site in Joe W. Brown Park, the Nature Center first opened its doors in 1980, quickly becoming a cherished nature and education resource for New Orleans children and families. The New Orleans Town Gardeners worked with the Nature Center to help junior high school students learn about growing plants through a container gardening program designed to instruct basic gardening principles for crowded urban conditions.
In 1984, the Founders Fund Award was given to join matching funds from New Orleans garden clubs, nurseries and other local organizations to build a 2,400 square foot greenhouse. This Botany Center served thousands annually with educational programs focused on urban gardening, propagation of native species and horticultural therapy for the elderly and handicapped. In 1994, the Nature Center was welcomed into the family of the Audubon Nature Institute and renamed Audubon Louisiana Nature Center.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the teaching greenhouse and surrounding area, severely damaging the hardwood bottomland forest. Several years later, the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center demolished the former site to begin preparations to bring back this cherished community resource with a new state of the art learning facility
