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In 2006, the University hired the firm of MTR (Marshall-Tyler-Rausch)
to enhance the botanic gardens' orientation to the new Dickinson
School of Law building
to be located directly adjacent to the gardens. During that planning
process and the planning process for Phase I of the H. O. Smith
Botanic Gardens, several of the garden elements were refined,
and narrative text was updated as shown below.
The Education Center
The Education Center is the heart of the Arboretum’s educational
programs, the front door to all visitors and the administrative
center for the Arboretum’s operations. Bringing together
materials such as stone, wood, and glass, this 20,000 square foot
structure will complement the gardens that surround it as well
as being a sophisticated work of architecture. It will add to
the quality of life of the University by providing a place to
relax with a cup of coffee or gather with friends in a beautiful
garden setting.
The Conservatory
The Conservatory is a 10,000 square foot glasshouse that will
stand as a spectacular focal point as viewed from the East Sub
Campus Allée as well as from many points in the Arboretum.
It will be a winter refuge for visitors, unlike anything else
in the region, featuring tender and tropical plants. The Conservatory
will also offer opportunities for students to study plants of
the tropics.
Conservatory Terrace
Garden
Adjacent to the Conservatory, a terrace with a tropical theme,
enclosed with walls and framed with lush plantings, can host gatherings
and events for as many as 250 people. The plants for this garden
have been especially selected for their tropical affinities.
Oasis Garden
Adjacent to the Rose and Fragrance Garden, the Oasis Garden is
enclosed by walls of golden stucco that contain trellises featuring
a grass motif. Within the garden is a small, secluded terrace
for contemplation or quiet conversation; a path encircles a round,
raised "oasis" of plantings that features a lotus pool.
Winter Garden
Although many people think of gardens as a summer attraction,
there are many plants that are quite beautiful during the coldest
months of the year (also much of the school year). The Winter
Garden features shrubs, trees and grasses with beautiful form,
colorful bark or berries, intricate seedheads, or evergreen foliage.
A terrace in the Winter Garden serves both
the Education Center and the Conservatory. Low seat walls in the
Winter Garden mirror those across the street at the Dickinson
Law School, forming a gateway to the Arboretum along Bigler Road.
Marsh Meadow
The Marsh Meadow, filled with tall-growing switchgrass, will
grace the front section of the Arboretum along Park Avenue. Around
the perimeter are edge plantings of baldcypress, weeping willows,
and red- and yellow-stemmed dogwoods to provide a pleasing framework
that is evocative of the banks of a marsh or pond. (The Marsh
Meadow serves the functional purpose of infiltrating stormwater,
though it is typically dry for all but a few hours of the year.)
Wending its way through the landscape surrounding the meadow is
a mown pathway that is open to all to stroll through and enjoy
the park-like setting. A pavilion at the center will allow visitors
to rest and enjoy the singing of the birds and the beauty of the
natural setting.
Four Seasons Garden
The Four Seasons Garden will highlight plants with several seasons
of interest such as conifers and grasses, shrubs and trees with
spring bloom and fall color, or plants that produce interesting
seed heads or berries. It features plants that bloom particularly
early in the spring and those that put on a very late display
in the fall. At its center are terraced lawn panels sloping down
to the Marsh Meadow and offering views across its expanse.
Rose and Fragrance
Garden
Over centuries of cultivation, the rose has remained one of
the most beloved flowers. The Rose and Fragrance Garden features
roses and complementary perennials and herbs. This romantic garden
will burst forth with color and fragrance. Located next to the
Conservatory (North) Terrace and enclosed with walls and climbing
roses, this is the perfect place for a garden wedding or a romantic
stroll.
Medieval Garden
The Medieval Garden will display the plants and the gardening
style of this historical period. The Medieval Garden features
a kitchen garden with raised beds of potherbs and medicinal plants
and a flower lawn with a raised turf seat and central fountain.
This will also be a major display area for herbs, as medieval
gardeners grew an abundance of plants used for flavoring, medicine,
and fragrance. Covered walks, arbors, and hedges will frame the
space.
Event Lawn
The Event Lawn is a green, sunny, open space surrounded by foliage
and flowering shrubs. A path around its perimeter (the Kathryn
Bower Smith Strolling Garden) is lined with plants in the rose
family such as Amelanchier and Spirea. It will
be the location for festivals, plant sales, garden shows, and
art displays for up to 1,300 attendees. Its central location allows
convenient use in conjunction with the Education Center, Conservatory
Terrace, or Demonstration Gardens.
Demonstration Gardens
The Demonstration Gardens are teaching gardens designed for
use by University departments and for the Arboretum’s outreach
to the community. They will have rotating exhibits that address
particular educational topics and respond to current issues in
horticulture. The entrance to these gardens is a specimen lawn
bordered on two sides by flower beds (the Joan Milius Smith Esplanade).
Centrally located among the gardens is a Learning Center, a building
designed to facilitate hands-on learning, with a lab/kitchen to
do cooking demonstrations or show horticultural techniques. The
Demonstration Gardens include several theme gardens that can be
used to teach gardening techniques, including the Hummingbird
and Butterfly Gardens, Home Landscapes, Fruit and Vegetable Garden,
and the Turf and Flower Demonstration Plots.
Children’s
Garden
The Children's Garden is designed to be an outdoor classroom
to teach local and visiting youth to love their green world in
a fun and whimsical way. It is a place of unscripted play and
spontaneous exploration so that children will not absorb its message
in one visit and will beg their parents and teachers to let them
return. It can serve both pre-school and elementary school audiences
as well as provide a "hands-on" educational venue for
elementary education students at the University. Various themes
may be explored in this garden, such as the relationship between
insects and plants, the roles of plants in human history, and
even the ability of plants to adapt (or not adapt) to changes
in their habitat and climate.
In addition to a restroom facility, there may be a small classroom
or an outdoor amphitheater for special plays, puppet shows, and
educational programming.
Orchard
The Orchard complements the function of the Demonstration Gardens
and the theme of the Medieval Garden by displaying both heirloom
and modern varieties of fruit trees appropriate to the region
in a traditional orchard style. Many of these fruit trees are
also beautiful when they are in flower in the spring.
Overlook Pavilion
The Overlook Pavilion serves as the entrance to the gardens
that are arrayed on the slope down to Big Hollow. It is a wonderful
place to sit in the shade and enjoy sweeping views in both directions.
On the side facing the event lawn are two seat walls and a Birch
Overlook. The pavilion is designed as a permanent central structure
with a portico and a tented event terrace that can be used during
the temperate seasons. Seating for approximately 180 people can
be set up under the tent and the portico for evening dining in
the middle of the garden.
River of Grasses &
Dry Stream
This garden features a “river” of ornamental grasses
that billow and intertwine like waves spilling down the gentle
slope. Weaving through the grasses is a dry stream, a carefully
designed ribbon of gravel that flows around sculptural boulders
and is bridged at intervals by rock slabs.
Perennial Gardens
On either side of the River of Grasses and Dry Stream are the
Arboretum’s informal flower gardens. The garden features
a diverse plant palette of bulbs, perennials, trees and shrubs
in a variety of sunny and shady environments. Mowed paths allow
visitors to explore the flower beds at their leisure in an informal
setting. Avid gardeners and novices alike will enjoy the ever-changing,
carefully designed combinations of colors and textures throughout
the seasons.
Meadow Garden
The Meadow Garden explores gardening with perennials and bulbs
in combination with meadow grasses. An open meadow is flanked
by specimen shade trees to create a savannah environment. The
trees also help frame the view and create comfortable shade along
the main circulation loop. The upper part of the meadow explores
naturalized bulbs and non-native perennials while the lower portion
of the meadow displays native perennials that grow in association
with grasses. This garden can establish Penn State’s leadership
in exploring best methods for establishing and maintaining a natural
meadow in this region.
Shade & Woodland
Garden
The Shade and Woodland Garden is laid out in three parts, beginning
with the Asian Woods near the Schreyer House, Transition Woods
in the center and Penn's Woods next to Big Hollow.
The Asian Woods explore the rich woodland flora of Japan, China
and Korea. It might include groves of Japanese maples, a forest
floor carpeted with wild flowers, hosta and ferns and shrub massings
of hydrangeas and rhododendrons. It is beautiful at all times
of the year due to its use of rock and its sculptural treatment
of plants. In the eastern tradition, it will emphasize form and
texture over color and symbolize a majestic landscape in miniature.
The Transition Woods are a deliberate juxtaposition of American
native plants and their Asian counterparts. Asian and American
trilliums, ferns, snakeroots, rhododendrons and azaleas, hollies,
and maples, among others, can be compared. Two very small streams
work their way through this area creating environments for moisture-loving
plants and the soothing sounds of water.
Penn’s Woods features icons of the Pennsylvania woods such
as the rosebay rhododendron or mountain laurel. One corner of
this garden is shown as an opening configured to create a wet
sedge meadow, displaying sedges discovered by Henry Muhlenberg,
a renowned early Pennsylvania botanist and clergyman
Trees (Perimeter)
The perimeter of the botanic gardens will require heavy screening
adjacent to the Housing and Food Services Center. The Master Plan
calls for a woodland corridor along the edge to create a pleasant,
shady environment for the bicycle trail that will wind through
that area and out into the Arboretum. This bicycle trail will
connect to another trail that comes out of Sunset Park and into
the Arboretum trail system developed on the preliminary
master plan. The first major artery in the Arboretum's trail
system has already been built (Bellefonte
Central Rail Trail).
The perimeter plantings are one of the places in which we intend
to develop tree collections appropriate to an arboretum.
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