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Marking a Milestone

Yew Dell Gardens plans
10th anniverary ‘Twilight’ celebration

Oct. 5 fundraiser event to
raise money needed for expansion

By Helen E. McKinney
Contributing Writer

CRESTWOOD, Ky. (October 2012) – Yew Dell Botanical Gardens is celebrating a decade in existence. What started as a dream of horticulturalist Theodore Kline has become a world-renown center for education and cultivation in the heart of Crestwood.

Paul Cappiello

Paul Cappiello

As a leading horticultural research center, Yew Dell’s mission centers on developing superior garden plants, increasing biological diversity in the community and decreasing the need for pesticides. To honor these achievements and many more, a huge 10-year birthday party is in the works.
Yew Dell’s annual fundraising event, “Twilight in the Garden,” will take on the theme of a birthday party to observe this notable milestone. On Oct. 5 beginning at 6:30 p.m., the 34-acre property will play host to its most important fundraising event of the year.
This “is our biggest fundraiser of the year and supports all our work to build fabulous display gardens, continue our ongoing research on new and better garden plants, and conduct a long slate of educational programs and community events,” said Karla Drover, Yew Dell’s assistant director.
Guests may begin the evening with a selection of wine and an open bar. Dinner will be prepared by Wiltshire Pantry, beginning with appetizers. The three-course dinner will feature locally grown greens, seasonal vegetables and Kentucky beef brisket, topped off with mouth-watering desserts.
To get guests into the swing of things, “The grounds at Yew Dell will be decorated for a birthday party like no other,” Drover said. Limited silent and live auctions will also take place.
Auction items will include a week’s stay at a beachfront home near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; a case of sommelier exciting wine; three rare trees from the Yew Dell nursery; center court tickets to the University of Louisville vs. University of Ken-tucky basketball game; garden furniture; and a garden party in the exquisite surroundings of Sissy Nash’s home and garden.
Guests also have the chance to win a ruby and diamond ring, a week’s stay at a French country home known as Maison Rose, or a bottle of fine wine.
“We’re also conducting an online auction of items in our live and silent auction,” said Drover, “for people who cannot attend the event but would like to bid on items.”
Drover said “the revenue from ‘Twilight in the Garden’ supplies a significant portion of our operating budget each year as well as allowing us to showcase the beauty of the grounds and the contribution a botanical garden makes to the lives of people in the community.”
In recognition of 10 years in operation, ground will soon be broken on a collection of new horticulture facilities, nurseries, a greenhouse and headhouse. The gem of the new facilities will be a solar-geothermal greenhouse, complete with green roof, plant growing and propagation space, teaching and workshop space and exhibit space.
The existing historic Klein potting shed building will be completely renovated and re-opened as the Preston T. Ormsby Horticulture Center. It will serve as the greenhouse’s headhouse, providing teaching and work space, and a place for daily operations.
This is a project that has been in the planning stages for several years, said Paul Cappiello, executive director of Yew Dell Botanical Gardens. In its first 10 years of existence, the staff at Yew Dell spent time “stabilizing the property, rehabilitating buildings and gardens, crafting our education and community event programs, and getting the word out to the community.” He is now ready to “Begin building our horticulture facilities that will form the centerpiece of our research and education activity.”
Cappiello said the staff at Yew Dell is working with the Louisville architecture firm of deLeon & Primmer Architecture Workshop, with whom they have worked previously. Yew Dell has also employed Rough Brothers of Cincinnati, designers-fabricators of greenhouse structures.
Rough Brothers “have a solid reputation for building high quality structures that last for the long haul,” said Cappiello. The company “was excited with all the unique challenges and opportunities of the project.”
A unique feature of the new facility will be the High Tunnel, a structure that will allow Yew Dell staff to grow and harvest vegetables throughout the winter with no added heat.
“We’ll use it for variety trials, production research and demonstrations for interested gardeners, farmers and schools,” said Cappiello. “The greenhouse, with its solar-geothermal heat-cooling and green roof will certainly be unique in the region and will serve as an exhibit of low energy design.”
Construction will begin this fall and work on the greenhouse and Horticulture Center building is expected to be completed by spring 2013.

• Tickets for Twilight in the Garden are $200 per person. Tickets can be reserved by contacting Yew Dell Botanical Gardens at (502) 241-4788 or visiting: www.YewDellGardens.org.

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