Burden Museum and Gardens features springtime activities

BATON ROUGE — As winter weather warms and spring approaches, Burden Museum & Gardens offers many activities to help people enjoy the changing season.
Located at 4560 Essen Lane, just off Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge, Burden Museum & Gardens is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and includes the LSU Rural Life Museum, the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens and Windrush Gardens.
The LSU Rural Life Museum focuses on the ways of life of rural Louisiana during the 18th and 19th centuries. The museum also provides educational and research resources that advance an understanding of the material and cultural heritage of the region.
Adjacent to the Rural Life Museum, the historic Windrush Gardens comprises five acres of semiformal gardens of the Burden family.
Admission to the Rural Life Museum is $9 for ages 12 to 61, and $8 for seniors and children ages 5 to 11. Admission to Windrush Gardens is $3 per person. Both are free for kids under 5. The LSU Rural Life Museum and Windrush Gardens are open daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. except major holidays.
The LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens is an expansive collection of specialty gardens, woodlands, wetlands and arboreta. Trees and Trails offers five miles of serene walking paths through the Burden Woods. The Rose Garden, Children’s Garden and All-America Selections Display Garden showcase the beauty of plants and flowers and provide educational experiences for gardeners of all ages. No admission is required to tour the gardens
Special springtime events to remember
On March 5, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. the LSU Rural Life Museum will present Ione E. Burden Symposium featuring distinguished speakers who will talk on the subject of Louisiana’s rural history. Reservations are required. A lunch and speaker’s reception are included; an additional fee will be charged.
On March 5 and April 9, children ages 3 to 8 can participate in StoryTime at Burden from 9 to 11 a.m. in the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens. The morning will feature storybook readings and imagination-themed activities every half hour. The last reading begins at 10:30. StoryTime is sponsored by the Junior League of Baton Rouge. Admission is free.
Also on March 5, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens will host Herb Day. The events will include a tea room for tasting herbal teas, herb classes, herbal products and herb plants for sale. Herb classes will start at 9:30 a.m. and continue every hour.
Herb Day is sponsored by the American Herb Society Baton Rouge Unit. The event is open to the public and no admission is charged.
Set from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on March 12, the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens will present two artists in the Brush with Burden seminar. Judi Betts, an internationally acclaimed, award-winning artist will present a two-hour seminar in water color painting, and David Humphreys will present a one-hour seminar on photography. Registration is $25 in advance or $30 at the door. Seating is limited.
On March 12, from 4 to 6 p.m., the Brush with Burden 2016 Art Exhibition will begin with an opening reception in the Ione Burden Conference Center and Steele Burden Memorial Orangerie in the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens. The exhibition will continue March 13-20, from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
The juried multimedia exhibition features art inspired by Louisiana’s natural beauty, flora and fauna.
This year’s Brush with Burden theme is “Southern Sights.” All artwork will be offered for sale; no admission will be charged.
From 1 to 4 p.m. March 20, the LSU Rural Life Museum will celebrate an Old-fashioned Easter. Children ages 2 through 8 will have the opportunity to enjoy customs associated with Easter in Louisiana by participating in many activities such as egg-dying, egg pacquing and, of course, egg hunting for prizes. Admission is $5 per person.
On April 2, from 3:30 to 6 p. m., Zapp’s International Beerfest at the LSU Rural Life Museum will feature more than 200 foreign, domestic and home-brewed beer and ales will be available for tasting. Limited to visitors 21 years of age and older, proper photo identification will be required to purchase tickets and enter the event. Non-alcoholic beverages will be available. Tickets are limited and are $35 with advanced purchase required. Special VIP tickets with early admission are $75 before March 31 and $100 after.
From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 9, the East Baton Rouge Master Gardeners will hold their annual plant sale at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens. Visitors will have the opportunity to purchase bedding plants, vegetable plants, trees, shrubs and more.
April 22, from 7 to 10 p.m., the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens will present Gourmet in the Garden. Award-winning local chefs from top restaurants will offer tastings in the Steele Burden Memorial Orangerie, the gardens surrounding the Orangerie and the Pavilion. Guests will be able to vote for People’s Choice awards for best chef creations and view a student chef cook-off. Other features will include original cocktails by local distilleries and live music.
The event is sponsored by the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens and the Louisiana Culinary Institute. Tickets are $60 per person in advance or $70 per person at the door. Advance tickets are available online at Eventbrite.com and search “Gourmet in the Garden.”
On April 29, the LSU Rural Life Museum will present Evening at Windrush. This Southern supper will capture the spirit of days gone by at Windrush Plantation. Guests will have cocktails at the Burden home, a seated supper, and desserts and coffee in the museum’s Plantation Quarters. Reservations are required.
From 9 to 11 a.m. April 30, the Children’s Garden Series at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens will present “Terrariums: Create your very own ecosystem in a bowl.” Children ages 6-10 can participate in interactive activities and learn about gardening. An adult must accompany each child. Children will receive snacks and garden take-home crafts. Attendance limited to 15. Admission is $15 per child.
On May 7, at 7:30 p.m., the LSU Rural Life Museum will present an outdoor concert The Classical Mystery Tour — A Tribute to the Beatles featuring a Beatles Tribute Band with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and pops conductor David Torns.
This “faux Fab 4” of Tony Kishman, Jim Owens, David John and Chris Camilleri will bring some 30 Beatles hits to life. Tickets are $50 for general table seating, $20 for adult lawn seating and $10 for child lawn seating. Tickets can be obtained from the Baton Rouge Symphony box office at 225-383-0500, extension 100, online at www.brso.org or in person at the Baton Rouge Symphony executive offices, 7330 Highland Road. Patrons may bring food and beverages onto the property with the exception of alcohol, which will be available for sale.
Continuing activities include:
—Trees and Trails, a 5-mile system of pedestrian, recreational and educational trails in the Burden Woods, provides opportunities for hiking and interpretive and educational activities for youth and adults. The Mosaic Boardwalk at Black Swamp guides visitors through a hardwood swamp more than 200 years old. The trail system is open from 8 a.m. to dusk every day.
—The children’s garden offers a place to learn about gardening and nutrition. This model garden also provides a location for youth-related organizations and individual families to experience the outdoors, focusing on vegetable, herb and butterfly garden plantings.
—Windrush Gardens comprises majestic live oaks and ancient crape myrtles to create a shady canopy over azaleas and camellias, evoking a sense of tranquility and peace. Steele Burden, who was influenced by the gardens of Europe and the surviving gardens of 19th century Louisiana plantations, designed Windrush. The winding paths are ideal for strolling and enjoying the 25 acres of landscaped spaces.
—The Rose Garden is a member of the American Garden Rose Selections program, a nationwide network of approved public gardens, and the American Rose Trials for Sustainability program, maintaining an inventory of 1,500 plants representing 150 varieties. Starting each April, the Rose Garden offers an exclusive preview of the coming year’s outstanding new varieties.