Surrounded by the peaceful backdrop of water fountains and colorful flowers in K-State’s botanical garden, party guests sipped gin and tonics while socializing before dinner on Friday night. The summer soirée showcased the hard work of K-State’s gardeners and raised money for the future of horticulture.
“This is our 150th anniversary of having the gardens on campus,” Scott McElwain, director of the K-State gardens, said. “This party tonight is actually an annual fundraiser.”
Horticulture is one of the university’s oldest departments. The original garden was located outside of Dickens Hall, formerly the school of horticulture, where Bluemont Hall now stands. In 1978, the Horticulture Department moved the garden to its location on Denison Avenue.
Proceeds from the event — the sale of party tickets, the auction and raffle tickets for a gold powercat necklace — go toward the pay for student workers. These students work at the gardens, some in the summer and others during the school year, helping to plant the beds, maintain irrigation and interact with visitors.
“It’s a fundraiser supporting student internships or students who want to further their plant education,” McElwain said. “They don’t have to be horticulture students to work here, but Kansas State University students.”
For the past 20 years, the garden party has taken place on the first Friday in June.
“We are celebrating in a much bigger way for the 150th anniversary,” said Cheryl Yunk, Friends of the Gardens president. “It’s one of our biggest turnouts we ever had, so we’re pretty happy about it.”
About 300 people attended the garden party, including high-profile members of the K-State community like Bill Snyder and K-State’s president Richard Linton.
“When people ask me my favorite places on campus, I do have a favorite place, and it is the K-State gardens,” Linton said. “Every single morning in the summer, my wife and I will walk through these gardens. This morning it was at 5:38, because it is such an incredibly special place.”
At the event, Linton announced K-State will raise its funding for the gardens, providing an additional $300,000 beginning July 1. The university previously allocated the gardens $63,000 a year in funding.
“We have volunteers and we have students, they’re the ones that make the gardens look as good as they do,” McElwain said.
The garden party featured a live steel drum performance by Seattle musician Ian Dobson. Guests could also bid on art, garden tools and other home goods either online or in person.
One guest, Janet Horton, has attended the garden party for the past ten years.
“We just enjoy the outside, the beautiful flowers,” Horton said. “We’ve watched the fountains and all of the groundwork get better and just see it grow. It’s a fun event to meet new people and see your old friends here. We enjoy it a lot.”
Another guest, Jeffery Petersen, is a gardener. He volunteers with a group of gardeners called the Purple Thumbs, who help tend the K-State botanical garden. He said the volunteers planted the annuals blooming in front of the Quinlan Visitors center a few weeks before the event took place.
“I’m involved in helping to get the garden ready,” Petersen said. “There are plants that have to be dead-headed, there are plants that have to be planted, there are still annuals that have to be planted, so for the past three weeks, all these volunteers have been coming in when they have time to help plant plants.”
Petersen said the Purple Thumbs is open to new recruits.
“It’s a collective effort,” Petersen said. “The key is our director, Scott McElwain. We all bend over backwards to help him because he makes us feel so welcome here and he appreciates all that we do. A thank you is more than enough for me. I’ve learned a lot as a gardener.”
The K-State gardens are free and open to the public to visit.