Diversity is what make the Ambler Arboretum beautiful in all seasons as well as en effective teaching tool. Our wide diversity of plants supports a wide diversity of animals creating a habitat.
We are also very interested in supporting human diversity at the Ambler Arboretum.
While public gardens are often thought of neutral ground, place for peace and relaxation, places where you can get away from the bad news, unwind, and decompress, and while all of this is certainly true, public gardens and the history of public horticulture spaces are not without their complicated pasts and unfortunate contributions to the systemic problems we have today. We must do better jobs of telling these stories, of raising awareness about our role what is going on today. At the Ambler Arboretum we are working to uncover our stories – all of them – and to tell them and someday we will be able to.
We are also working to understand the barriers we have in place preventing anyone who is interested from visiting our gardens and attending our programs. As we learn what these barriers are we will work to dismantle them creating a space accessible and accommodating to all.
We believe diversity equals resilience not only for the health of our gardens but for the health of our community and for society as a whole.
We welcome your ideas and feedback regarding diversity and inclusion at the Ambler Arboretum and you can contact the Arboretum Director Ksathy Salisbury at arboretum@temple.edu to further this conversation.