Pittsburgh Botanic Garden

Visitor Experience: Through its facilities, gardens and woodlands, and programs, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden strives to increase the number of individuals exposed to the natural beauty of the Allegheny Plateau region. The Garden's mission is grounded in the belief that connecting with plants is fundamentally important to the emotional and physical well-being of all people.** See Continuation on Schedule O **What started as a dream in 1988 was made a reality through the dedication of many volunteers and staff. These visionaries had to conduct land reclamation, manage acid mine drainage, renovate building, construct new facilities and raise donations ultimately leading to April 1, 2015, when this public garden opened for the community. Throughout 2025, the Garden celebrated 10 years of welcoming visitors along with a multitude of milestones, including:- Admission was 18,000 in 2015 and 92,000 in 2024 and on track for 100,000 during 2025- Nature-based field trip program grew from 4 in the first year to more than 40 annually- Since Inception The Garden hosted 576 weddings attended by nearly 73,000 guests who were able to enjoy the gardens- Membership households grew from 881 to more than 4,000.Year-round highlights for visitors include these garden features: Garden of the Five Senses - This garden encourages children of all ages and abilities to touch, hear, smell, taste and see the natural world around them. Filled with hands-on activities for exploration, this is the garden for families to learn and connect with nature. You also will find the Discovery Cart, filled with constantly changing artifacts to spark curiosity in young minds. The Weisbrod Learning Pavilion provides an outdoor space for school field trips and drop-in programs for visitors.Hillside Pollinator Garden - Colorful, all-season blooms invite you and pollinators to visit this gently sloping hillside. The swaths of cultivars of native perennials burst each season to take center stage. Stroll along or take a moment on GB's Overlook to view a pollinator at work. Welcome Center -- This 7,500-square-foot facility, which opened in 2021, greets visitors entering the gardens and woodlands and transports them to a place of exploration, wonder, and learning. The Welcome Center is home to the Welcome Desk, Forage & Finds, Canopy Cafe, Peirce Education Rooms and Courtyard Garden, and the Zappala Woodland Room. Its Art Gallery features rotating local artists year-round.

Horticulture: Pittsburgh Botanic Garden inspires people to value plants, garden design and the natural world by cultivating plant collections of the Allegheny Plateau and temperate regions, creating display gardens, conducting educational programs and conserving the environment. The Garden is a qualified caretaker of 460 acres of southwest Pennsylvania's land and water. Dedicated staff and volunteers create and maintain this space as a habitat for native flora and fauna. ** See Continuation on Schedule O **In addition to ongoing conservation efforts such as mitigating acid mine drainage and reforestation projects, the Garden provides 65 acres of cultivated gardens and woodlands for the public to connect to plants. Through this innate experience: young minds are engaged, gardeners are inspired, and all visitors find a sense of calm.Central to the story of Pittsburgh Botanic Garden is the poor condition of the site upon which it is being built. Left in a deplorable state following coal extraction throughout the first half of the 20th Century, the land was unfit for most uses and even dangerous in spots. Further damage was caused by flooding of the mines beneath the surface in 2004, which exposed a severe acid mine drainage problem. The land and water are being reclaimed and repaired. Abandoned mine features, invasive species and poor site conditions are being replaced by educational gardens, reconstructed woodlands, and lovely views. The Garden is providing long-term benefits, including carbon capture, superior soil conservation and lasting habitat improvement.A few conservation highlights since beginning its land and water reclamation efforts in 2014: - In 2025, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden conducted the first prescribed burn in Allegheny County. This was part of the Garden's integrated approach to either weakening or ultimately eliminating the presence of Lespedeza cuneata, a non-native plant that negatively influences local biodiversity. - Participates in the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Wild Plant Sanctuary Program. - 15,000 native saplings were planted to reforest an abandoned mine site. The Garden collaborated with Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, United States Office of Surface Mining and Plant Five for Life. - With no chemical treatments or energy inputs, and minimal maintenance, water once considered 'dead' now supports a healthy aquatic ecosystem. The Garden operates three passive, water filter systems which neutralize more than 25 million gallons of acid mine discharge each year, prior to it entering the region's watershed and then the Ohio River. - The first innovative filter system to be installed creates the Garden's Lotus Pond, a focal point of the Japanese Garden. The Garden was recognized for this system as the recipient of the 2014 Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence. - The Garden's work in mitigating acid mine drainage is recognized by the U.S. Office of Surface Mining as a national model and has since been duplicated elsewhere.