I’ve been to the botanical gardens various times during my time at Cornell, but last Saturday was the first time that I’d ever been on a guided tour. I can honestly say it provided me a whole new perspective on plant sciences. You could tell that the professor who was giving the tour was passionate about the gardens and the Cornell history that is behind them. I had no idea that the current location of the gardens were formerly Ezra Cornell’s personal farm. This new information certainly helped to paint a more thorough picture of what Cornell (the university) and the academic endeavors of this institution meant to Ezra himself. I enjoyed the tour very much because it gave me different things to think about that I would not have considered going there by myself, such as the the reason for certain cultivated species and the various purposes of different aspects of the gardens. I was impressed that they made use of some of the land to address runoff from the nearby parking lot. I really suggest finding time to take one of these tours. You can really get as much out of it as you’re willing to invest. However, if you’re interested in checking the gardens out yourself, there are information booklets on the plants grown in each different flowerbed. I suggest looking for the edible plants!