Olmsted 200: Our Year-Long Initiatives! 2022 is the Bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted. A nation-wide program, Olmsted 200, has been established to celebrate Olmsted’s design principles – particularly those which are rooted in concern for public health and the desire to promote thoughtful access to nature. We are excited to sponsor two major initiatives, each engaging the area community, to mark this celebration.

The first is the Olmsted 200 Botanical Box. Partnering with botanical artist Shilin Hora, of The Seed, we sponsored a series of free Seed Hunts in 2021 where participants of all ages learned about seed collecting in Riverside’s natural areas. We are also raising funds for a sizeable, museum-quality, Olmsted 200 Botanical Box to be gifted to the Riverside Public Library on Olmsted’s 200th birthday. It will feature our locally collected seeds, professionally preserved and artistically arranged over the 1869 General Plan for Riverside. Custom framed with architectural salvage by local craftsman Francisco Gonzales, this Olmsted 200 Botanical Box will be accompanied by a hand-written seed identification key. This gift will not only be a stunning work of art, embodying our community seed collection efforts, but it will educate generations to come about the diversity of Riverside’s flora.

Our second initiative is to design, fund, and plant Olmsted Overlook, a public nature space and living tree tribute to healing and gratitude for health. Olmsted Overlook will reflect Olmsted’s philosophy that immersion in Nature improves bodily and spiritual health. Working with the Village, volunteers will come together to plant trees and shrubs in an intentional, yet uncontrived, design to promote serenity and well-being.

You can be part of these lasting gifts to the Riverside community by DONATING HERE in any amount (for which you will receive our heartfelt thanks and year-end acknowledgement for tax purposes) and/or by commissioning your very own Olmsted 200 Botanical Box from The Seed. Each piece is unique and numbered and sure to be treasured by all who love Riverside and all of its natural beauty. Samples can be viewed on the artist’s website, www.shilinhora.com