Associate Curator
U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum (MBGNA)
Waterways of Holland and Belgium Aboard the Deluxe M.S. Amalyra- Including the Floriade
Dr. Michener is the associate curator at the MBGNA, where he has been since 1990. All his degrees are in botany. Before coming to the U-M, David was on the post-doctoral staff at Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum in Boston, which rounded out his plant studies from universities in California and North Carolina.
David is active in the University of Michigan’s museum studies program as well as teaching an intense two-week summer field-class for high school science geeks for the UM’s Math Dept. David has been a demanding yet popular teacher in the U-M’s Program in the Environment as well as the Landscape Architecture program. David’s current curatorial work is focused on bringing the Garden and Arb’s extensive records and maps on-line for the public as well as rewriting institutional collection policies and processes. The U-M’s peony garden at the Nichols Arboretum is of particular and intense activity as part of featuring one of the country’s best yet little-known collections. David has conducted over a dozen confidential site-reviews of other botanical gardens around the country for several funding agencies. David has a variety of publications in museum studies and plant taxonomy, mostly aimed at public audiences as in The Public Garden, Horticulture, and as co-author of Taylor’s Guide to Groundcovers. Over the past 15 years he has been the plant specialist on international garden tours to England, France, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales with additional professional work as far afield as Brazil and China.
David is a passionate gardener – his turf-free garden has been on local garden tours, featured in the Detroit Free Press, and in one national publication. His home will be on the 25th Annual Ann Arbor Garden Walk in a few years’ time.
