{"id":11828,"date":"2025-10-01T08:58:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=11828"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:15:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T14:15:04","slug":"botanic-gardens-expands-access-with-new-saturday-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2025\/10\/01\/botanic-gardens-expands-access-with-new-saturday-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"Botanic Garden Expands Access with New Saturday Hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Botanic Garden at Georgia Southern is extending its hours of operation, now welcoming visitors seven days a week instead of six. Traditionally closed on Saturdays, the Garden is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering guests a new opportunity to explore its beauty before closing for private events later in the day. The decision to open on Saturdays was driven by several factors, including the area\u2019s evolving demographics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to be accessible to the public to build your membership base,\u201d noted Todd Beasley, Ed.D., director of the Botanic Garden. \u201cIf you work Monday through Friday and Sunday is a family day, then Saturday is your bread and butter visitation day. Additionally, we are a garden first, and we need to capitalize on that versus being known as a great wedding venue first. It\u2019s merely a shift in how we operate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a University resource, the Garden holds significant value, both in terms of its mission and its broader impact. Beasley emphasized the importance of connecting people to plants, which is at the heart of the Garden\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe try to show the nearly 4,000-plus plants that can grow in our area instead of the same overused plants in our yards,\u201d Beasley explained. \u201cBy doing this, we push sustainability and biodiversity, which is decreasing all around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The director highlighted the Garden\u2019s role as an educational institution, providing both passive and active learning opportunities. He noted that as schools struggle to balance standardized testing with comprehensive education the Botanic Garden fills a crucial gap, offering hands-on science education that many K-5 students miss due to curriculum constraints. Beasley, who joined the Garden last year, described his tenure as fast-paced, but fulfilling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are a place of therapy \u2013 a place to take a respite from the chaos of the world,\u201d Beasley said. \u201cWe are a place to socialize through<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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our events that always have a direct or indirect connection back to plants. We are a place of learning, aiming to provide people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations and inspirations to be informed about the environment around them. Beyond our educational mission, we are contributing to the local economy as we continue to expand our reach, attracting day trippers near and far.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Botanic Garden at Georgia Southern is extending its hours of operation, now welcoming visitors seven days a week instead of six. Traditionally closed on Saturdays, the Garden is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering guests a new opportunity to explore its beauty before closing for private events later in the day. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":898,"featured_media":11829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[90],"class_list":["post-11828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-up-front","tag-spring-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/898"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}