Our motto at the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum is: "Caring for nature, enriching life." We do that by connecting people with nature, sustaining the earth, tending our natural heritage, sharing knowledge, and promoting learning.

Our Mission:

Promoting environmental enjoyment, stewardship and sustainability through education, research, and interaction with the natural world.

Our Values: inspire and enrich people's lives through contact with plants and nature; recognize the restorative value of nature and beautiful gardens; engage scientists and artists in research, teaching, and outreach activities; apply ecological principles in our horticulture and land stewardship; advance sustainable practices and the conservation of biodiversity, particularly that of the Great Lakes Region.

About Our Flickr Account:

the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum's Flickr account is an official collection of photographs gathered by MBGNA over a number of years. Events, performances, tours, and landscapes--it's all here, and it's here to share with you.

But we need your help!

To make sure our collection is useful and organized, we need to know what it contains. We've described each photograph as much as possible, but sometimes we don't know enough about it. That's where you, members of the MBGNA community, can help us.

How to Participate:

leave a comment or tags on our photos. Do you know the names of the people in a picture? What event it shows? The date it was taken? Let us know in the photo's comment section, or add a descriptive tag, and we'll update our photo description as soon as we can.

Here's a list of the information we need for each photo:

- A description of what it shows, like the name of an event

or performance, or the location it was taken

- The names of the people in the picture

- The date it was taken and the name of the photographer

who took it.

Every bit helps, so let us know what you know, and help us create the best collection we can!