University's Botanic Garden grows across campus

ver since Chancellor Richard Wallace declared the entire campus a botanic garden nearly two years ago, Campus Facilities’ Landscape Services department has been expanding existing gardens, developing new areas and creating educational opportunities for all.

New beds, new plants

“Annual flower displays at Francis Quadrangle and Memorial Union have a totally new design each year,” said landscape gardener Marsha Bower. “We want to work with plants that are new on the market because we think the campus should be a showcase for things that people haven’t seen before.”

LS student intern Tim Sparling and Ariel Scavone plant variegatd flowering maples in the Memorial Union garden.

Trachelium, for instance, commonly used in cut flower arrangements, has been adapted for bedding use and planted on Lowry Mall for the first time this year. Forty new varieties of sun coleus are also used in the Memorial Union garden.

Perennial displays on campus include Eckles Hall’s butterfly garden, bulb displays on the Arts & Science mall and an expanded perennial garden next to Ellis Library.

“Actually, it’s a misnomer to say these projects are ‘finished,’” said Charles Paxton, interim Landscape Services superintendent. “A garden is a continual work in progress.”

Educational benefits

MU’s collection of genetically and taxonomically diverse flora qualified the university for membership in the prestigious American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. A A B G A’s criteria were that flora are of educational value and are studied, displayed and conserved for public benefit. Only 32 American universities are so qualified — a small, elite group.

Landscape Services’ new Botanic Garden map and brochure guides visitors through established gardens and future projects. Separate publications detail the campus tree trail and the butterfly garden. Brochures are available at visitors’ centers in the Jesse Hall rotunda and Reynolds Alumni Center, or at the Landscape Services office in University Garage.

Brochures and plant labels are part of LS’ effort to enhance the educative value of the Botanic Garden.

“We’ve installed approximately 600 identification labels listing the scientific name, cultivar and common name of the plants,” said Bower.

Opportunities are available for public, hands-on involvement with the Botanic Garden. A new LS volunteer program provides several ways for gardeners to donate their time as docents, working in the gardens with LS gardeners, or on special projects and workshops. A brochure describing the programs is available from Landscape Services.

Interested individuals may also get involved financially through the new Friends of the Botanic Garden program. Seven levels of financial membership are described in LS’ Friends Program brochure. Donations are used to preserve and develop the gardens and support MU’s educational mission.

Workshops and tours are other ways of reaching out to the public. The first, annual “Gardening With Perennials” conference, held June 2, quickly sold out. Participants enjoyed three educational sessions and two walking tours of the campus. LS coordinated the conference with Mary Kroenig, state coordinator for University Extension’s Master Gardener program, and the Heart of Missouri Master Gardeners.

Donations fund future growth

Additional garden areas to be planted this fall include a daylily garden and a hydrangea collection near Arts & Science and two new gardens on Francis Quadrangle.

“The daylily garden will feature more than 40 varieties of daylilies selected and donated by the Central Missouri Hemerocallis Society,” said landscape designer Joan Smith. “Their donation will allow us to display some varieties that we wouldn’t have been able to afford on our own.”

G. Franklin Rothwell IV, an MU alumnus, this year donated $25,000 to build a new garden at the north end of Francis Quadrangle next to the Geology Building. In 1999, Rothwell also established the $75,000 Rothwell Family Columns Preservation Endowed Fund to preserve the Columns and beautify the surrounding area.

The Jefferson garden will be constructed on the east side of Francis Quadrangle, featuring a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson and the same types of plants he raised in his Monticello flower garden. The Jefferson Club dedicated the statue May 4, and has raised $15,000 to build the surrounding garden.

“With the completion of the Rothwell and Jefferson gardens, the development of the Francis Quadrangle gardens will be about 85 percent complete,” said Smith.