Clark Library Nature and Garden Festival

The Clark Library preserves and provides access to over 130,000 books, manuscripts, and artworks dating from the 15th century to the present. But there is a library of living things on the five acres outside the library’s building, too, and this event will celebrate the urban nature and green spaces at the Clark – and across LA!

Attendees can get garden advice from an expert UC Master Gardener, go on bird walks with experienced guides from UCLA’s Bruin Birding Club, and learn more about how people thought and learned about gardens and wild creatures in the 1700s through rare books on display inside the historic library building. Attendees will also be able to make their own field notebooks, participate in a Clark Library Biodiversity survey on iNaturalist to help expand our knowledge of the library’s outdoor collections, plant seeds to take home from our heirloom seed library, trade plant cuttings and seeds with other attendees – and more!

All ages are welcome! Registration is free, but limited; please fill out the form below. Guests are welcome to bring a lunch and picnic on the Clark grounds, and to explore all of the day’s activities at their own pace. The Clark can be reached via LA Metro and LADOT Dash public transit, and free parking and bike racks are available on site; please see here for more information and directions.

More information:
What is iNaturalist?
iNaturalist is a crowd-sourcing tool for documenting organisms in the natural world. It’s a particularly great tool for collecting BioBlitz data and makes it easy to photograph and document discoveries. https://www.inaturalist.org/
Here are some of the things iNaturalist users have already seen at the Clark Library. What else can we find? https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/clark-library-biodiversity

Do I need to bring anything?
No! Supplies for all of the day’s activities will be provided for participants – except for the Propagation Station and Seed Swap, which will depend on you! You are welcome to bring seeds or plant cuttings (preferably already with roots growing) that you’d like to share and swap with others at the event.

The event is free to attend and will be held in-person on the Clark Library grounds. Registration will close on Monday, May 26 at 5:00 p.m. Walk-in registrants are welcome as space permits.

Image: Beauties and wonders of vegetable life or, rambles in parks, forests, conservatories, orchards, gardens, fields and heaths. London: Religious Tract Society, 1866. Clark call number Armstrong B383