$1 million gift to SC Botanical Garden will boost Children’s Garden

The director of the South Carolina Botanical Garden hopes a recent $1 million gift is the start of a fundraising wave to improve the state resource on the south side of the Clemson University campus.

Mike and Lynn McBride of Simpsonville and their children are giving the money to expand the Children’s Garden, which is next to the Hunt Cabin near the duck pond. The gift will pay for finishing the Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant canopy walk in the Children’s Garden, build a duck dock at the pond and provide more programming at the garden.

The McBride family is challenging others to raise an additional $1 million by May 30 to turn the Botanical Garden into a showcase in the Upstate.

“This is the biggest single gift in the garden’s history – it really does set us up to kick off the bulk of our fundraising for the Children’s Garden,” said Patrick McMillan, garden director and host of the ETV “Expeditions with Patrick McMillan” nature program. “That is a service we feel strongly has to be provided. We need to have a place that invites and engages all children to go outside.”

The garden is two years removed from catastrophic flooding that wiped out much of the grounds near the Children’s Garden site. More than 70 different construction and landscaping projects were undertaken to restore the grounds and improve the surrounding topography to prevent any further such events.

“The improvements are operating exactly as they should,” McMillan said. “We had three floods this year, but we didn’t have one instance of any flood damage that took more than three hours to fix.”

The South Carolina Botanical Garden is a diverse 295 acres of natural landscapes, according to its web site. It is home to an official American Hosta Society Display Garden, a 70-acre arboretum, miles of nature trails and streams, a butterfly garden, wildflower meadow and many specialty gardens, the web site said, along with more than 300 varieties of camellias, as well as an extensive collection of hollies, hydrangeas, magnolias and native plants.

The McBrides – Mike; his wife, Lynn; and their children McCain, Michael II, Erin McBride Fredericks and Katherine Wallace Harris – have family ties to Clemson and the garden.

“We are making this gift because of my love for Clemson and the education and experiences I had while here as a student,” said Mike McBride, a member of the Class of 1981. “Lynn spent a lot of time in the Botanical Garden as a child when she lived in Clemson. Her parents, Joe (Class of 1962) and Sue Wallace, took her to visit the duck pond and garden as a child.

“Where much is given, much is expected. The Children’s Garden will be an amazing place for children and their families for generations.”

Want to learn more? Visit www.clemson.edu/public/scbg/