Memphis is many things. A music city. A food city. A city shaped by history and creativity. But there is another part of our identity that deserves a place alongside all of them: Memphis is a city where nature is culture.
You see it along the Greenline, beneath the trees of the Old Growth Forest at Overton Park, across the wide landscapes of Shelby Farms, and throughout the gardens, parks, trails and green spaces woven into our neighborhoods. Nature isn’t something Memphis keeps at its edges. It is part of how we experience this city.
Look toward the Mississippi River and the bluff rising above it. The river doesn’t simply frame our downtown. It helped make Memphis…well, Memphis. Our history, commerce, neighborhoods, music and sense of place have
all been shaped by the river. Today, Tom Lee Park gives Memphians and visitors new ways to gather along the river and experience the natural features that have defined this city for generations.
The Old Growth Forest at Overton Park offers another kind of cultural inheritance. Walk beneath its canopy and you are experiencing a landscape with roots far older than the city surrounding it. It is the only urban old-growth forest in the southeastern United States. It has endured while Memphis grew and changed around it, giving each generation the opportunity to experience and protect it for the next. I’m fortunate to experience another version of this every day at Memphis Botanic Garden. When I step outside my office, I walk beneath a canopy that includes oak trees more than 150 years old. And every day, the Garden reminds me that nature and human creativity are not separate ideas.
A garden is designed. Horticulturists consider color, texture, scale, movement, season, perspective and the experience of the person moving through it. Plants become the medium. The landscape becomes the canvas. And like any work of art, it is never experienced exactly the same way twice. We readily recognize music, painting, sculpture, theater and dance as expressions of culture. Our natural landscape deserves a place in that conversation, too. That means places like the Mississippi riverfront, Overton Park, Shelby Farms, the Greenline and Memphis Botanic Garden are more than amenities. They are part of our cultural landscape. They tell us something about where we came from, what we value and what we choose to preserve for the people who come after us.
That broader definition of culture changes how we think about the institutions that care for these places. We tend to place museums, theaters, galleries and performance venues comfortably under the umbrella of arts and culture. Botanic gardens belong there, too. At Memphis Botanic Garden, our collections are living ones. Our exhibitions change with the seasons. We preserve history through plants and landscapes, create spaces designed to make people feel and think, and invite visitors to experience something they might not encounter anywhere else. The Garden’s cultural role begins with horticulture, but it doesn’t end there. Art exhibitions fill our galleries. Music brings thousands of people together under the open sky. Children encounter creativity through play and education. Artists, gardeners, musicians, educators and designers all contribute to what happens here. Nature provides the setting, the subject, the inspiration, and often the material itself. That is why I believe we should think more expansively about what an arts and cultural institution looks like. Sometimes it has a stage. Sometimes it has gallery walls. Sometimes its collection is alive, growing, changing and blooming right in front of us.
Why does it matter whether we call these places cultural assets? Because the way we define culture influences what we celebrate, what we invest in, what we protect and what we pass on. Memphis has long understood the cultural power of music. We understand the importance of preserving historic places, supporting artists, filling theaters, visiting museums and sharing the stories that make this city distinct. Our natural spaces deserve that same recognition. They are places where people gather. They educate us. They inspire creativity. They connect us to our history and to one another. They contribute to our quality of life and shape how visitors experience Memphis.
The value of these spaces reaches beyond their cultural significance. It is personal, too. According to the Cleveland Clinic, even a few minutes outdoors can reduce stress, improve mood and support mental clarity. Time in nature has benefits for our well-being. These spaces don’t simply make Memphis more beautiful. They make life here better. These places also require something from us. A 150-year-old oak does not remain part of our city simply because we admire it. Parks do not thrive without investment. Gardens do not grow without care. Trails, forests, riverfronts and green spaces endure because generations of people decide they matter. That is cultural stewardship.
Recognizing nature as a cultural asset doesn’t require Memphis to become something new. It asks us to see more clearly what has been here all along.
It means treating our parks, gardens, forests, trails and riverfront as essential parts of the Memphis experience. It means including them when we talk about what makes this city distinctive, when we welcome visitors, when we educate our children, and when we decide what deserves our attention and investment.
We should want the next generation of Memphians to know the music born here, understand the history that shaped us, experience the art we create and feel connected to the landscape they inherited. We should want them to stand beneath an old oak, walk through the Old Forest, watch the Mississippi move past the bluff or experience a garden in bloom and know that these places belong to their story, too.
Memphis is many things. A music city. A food city. An arts city. A city shaped by history and creativity. And, yes, a city where nature is culture.
Our landscape is not the backdrop to Memphis culture. It is a big part of it.
MaryLynn Mack is the executive director of the Memphis Botanic Garden.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Nature must be recognized among Memphis' top cultural assets | Opinion
