Arboretum Plant Collections

General Info | Native Plants | Wild Flower Garden
Caroline Black Garden | Connecticut College Campus | Greenhouse

 

The Native Plant Collection was established in 1931. At the time, 60 acres had been set aside to create the Connecticut College Arboretum. Twenty acres of this original allotment were dedicated as the Native Plant Collection. This long-standing commitment to native plants is a mainstay of the Arboretum.

Currently the Native Plant Collection contains 288 taxa, including trees, shrubs, and woody vines indigenous to the forested region of Eastern North America. Accessioned plants are from both wild and cultivated origins.

The Native Plant Collection contains a number of smaller collections and gardens which are of particular horticultural and aesthetic interest.

Cumberland Azalea (Rhododendron bakeri) is a deciduous shrub, that is wonderfully ablaze in mid-June.

The Nancy Moss Fine Native Azalea Garden

(est. 1978). About 15 species and natural hybrid Azaleas (Rhododendron spp.). native from Florida to Connecticut are featured here. At least one species can be found in bloom from early May through mid-August. Located to the right (north) of the main entrance and Laurel Walk.

Goodrich Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia 'Goodrich') is a smaller variety which blooms in late June.

The Josephine Hooker Shain Mountain Laurel Garden

(est. 1985). Cultivated varieties of the Connecticut state flower, Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia), comprise this June blooming collection. Located to the left (south) of the main entrance. Many of these cultivars are the work of Dr. Richard Jaynes of Cheshire, CT.

The Lincoln and Lillian Dauby Gries

Conifer Collection

(est. 1988). This 3-acre area contains conifers -- Firs, Spruces, Hemlocks, Junipers, Pines, etc., and a varietyof native shrubs as companion plantings. The conifer collection os located on the east side of the Pond. This picture shows the dwarf conifer planting, as well as the small prairie alight with Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) and the red tinges of Little Blue Stem Grass (Schizachyrium scoparius).

Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphylum)

The Edgerton and Stengel Wildflower Gardens

This woodland wildflower garden is located on a west-facing slope south of the Laurel Walk. Most plants bloom in spring, before the trees leaf out; many species of ferns are conspicuous all summer. A three year renovation project culminated in the planting of nearly 1,000 wildflowers in Spring 1996.The garden includes Trillium (Trillium spp.), Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), Turtlehead (Chelone spp.), and many other species of interest.

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The Self-Guided Tour is an excellent way for visitors to experience many interesting Arboretum features in the Native Plant Collection. Tour pamphlets are located in a small box on the notice board just inside the Native Plant Collection entrance on Williams St. The trail leads off to the left (south) from the head of the Laurel Walk, a long, sloping trail lined with Mountain Laurel shrubs. The route skirts the Rose family collection and the Gries Conifer Collection. Next the trail circles the south side of the shallow man-made Arboretum Pond and gives the visitor a choice of loop trails to a small bog and to the Oak and Hemlock-forested Bolleswood Natural Area. It continues past Buck Lodge, a rustic stone building used for various social activities, and into the grassy Outdoor Theater overlooking the pond. The conclusion of the walk traverses the Holly, Viburnum and Azalea Plant Collections on the way back to the entrance.

Looking for native trees and shrubs for your natural landscape? Click here to view the Connecticut Native Tree and Shrub Availability List which cross-references native species with nurseries where they are available. This list was produced by the Connecticut DEP, Bureau of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division. (This document is in .pdf format.)

Why Native Plants for Landscaping?

By Glenn Dreyer, Arboretum Director.

Proven Performers In "Marginal" Sites
Ecologists and botanists have extensive knowledge about the occurrence of woody plants in the wild. While it is true that plants often do well in landscape conditions rather different than their native habitat, the point here is that we know which native plants do well in the extreme sites-in very wet and very dry soils, in full sun and in dense shade. We often do not have reliable habitat preference information about plants native to other continents. Hybrids, or a cultivar selected for a particular ornamental attribute, may truly be wild cards in terms of environmental tolerances.

Most plants grow well in the traditional perfect conditions, what garden writers often characterize as "moist, well-drained soil rich in organic matter." However, most landscape plants will never see those conditions. Reliable information on plant habitat preference and tolerance is increasingly important as development and landscaping increasingly occur on more difficult sites. In Connecticut, where much of the easily buildable (and plantable) land is already spoken for, new projects are often found on very rocky sites or areas quite near swamps and other wetlands. Furthermore, plantings in existing landscapes often end up in the shade of mature trees. Many native plants are most useful in such places.

Restoring and Recreating Natural Communities
There is a rapidly growing worldwide trend toward reclaiming degraded wild lands and creating "natural" habitats, especially wetlands, where they did not previously exist. One indicator of increasing interest in this field over the past ten years is the proliferation of organizations and journals such as the Society for Ecological Restoration (with the publications Restoration and Management Notes and the academic journal Restoration Ecology) and the Society for Conservation Biology (and its journal Conservation Biology). In New England, most efforts have been focused on restoring or replacing wetland.gif systems, a process often referred to as mitigation. Farther west, restoration of prairie plant communities has been gaining momentum for decades. At the national level, through federal mandates and the work of major conservation organizations, there are restoration projects starting in all the major habitat types. The basic building blocks of these restoration efforts are the native plant species, and the demand for nursery grown material is on the rise. This is especially true as the ethic against wild collecting plants for commercial purposes becomes more widely accepted. Reliable sources of propagated native plants are needed.

Regional Identities
As our American culture continues to mature, there appears to be a growing interest in developing regional landscape identities. "Regionally appropriate" landscapes are being created by designers who take their inspiration from local plant community types both in the plant materials used and in the arrangement of those plants in built landscapes. A few simplified examples are the incorporation of deciduous woodlands and September blooming meadows in New England projects, substituting prairie reconstruction for lawns in Chicago, and using desert wildflowers and cacti in landscaping the Phoenix suburbs.

This trend toward regional landscapes is a result of a number of converging influences, not the least of which is a reaction against our long history of looking to Europe, and especially England, for approval of plant material and gardening styles. We are starting to develop our own standards and interests based on our unique American flora and experience.

The evolution of regional American landscape styles can also be seen as a rejection of the homogenization, on a continental scale, of commercial and residential landscapes. The proliferation of "cookie-cutter" landscapes is due, in part, to the very successful mass propagation and marketing of a limited pallet of plants. As gardening becomes more popular, and gardeners-as-consumers become increasingly sophisticated, alternatives are surfacing that reflect the natural beauty of their surrounding natural vegetation.

Finally, regional landscape types are often the most environmentally appropriate. They are in tune with the prevailing climate and should not need inordinate amounts of irrigation, soil amending, fertilizing or pest control. They often also require much less input of fossil fuels for machine-based maintenance. For example, in New England, substituting a meadow and a patch of woodland for the traditional turf-covered suburban lot saves the homeowner money (for lime, fertilizer, gasoline) maintenance time (from weekly mowing to annual in the meadow, none in woodland), and reduces the input of chemicals (from herbicides, insecticides and from gasoline combustion) into the air, soil and water (Niering and Goodwin 1975). This approach is the wave of the future as the need for energy conservation and pollution control become an important part of our national agenda.

High Wildlife Value
Woody plants supply year-round food and cover to local wildlife populations. Although many introduced species may also serve this function, those with the highest wildlife value may escape and naturalize on a massive scale. Plants such as the barberries (Berberis spp.), Asiatic Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), Asian honeysuckle shrubs and vines (especially Lonicera japonica, L morrowii, and L. tartarica in southern New England), Autumn Olive (Eleagnus umbellata), Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora), Privets (Ligustrum spp.), and Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) are radically altering our native ecosystems and creating a nuisance on roadsides, pastures and other managed lands. In contrast, plants already native to a given locale do not cause problems if they escape from cultivation.

Conservation and Aesthetic Values
As gardeners and others learn to recognize and appreciate native species, educators can more easily generate public interest in conserving biodiversity and our remaining natural areas locally and globally.

Creating outdoor beauty and enjoyment are the paramount reasons for landscaping, and the individual ornamental attributes of the plants used in design are clearly important. The plants native to any region are as attractive to the senses as any other groups of plants, though in some cases the beauty is admittedly subtle. Recent publications such as Bir's (1992) Growing and Propagating Showy Native Woody Plants are a sign that the public is accepting and embracing native landscapes.

LITERATURE CITED

Bir, R.E. 1992. Growing & Propagating Showy Native Woody Plants. University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill, NC.

Niering, W.A. and Goodwin R.H. 1975. Energy Conservation on the Home Grounds; The Role of Naturalistic Landscaping. Bulletin No. 21. Connecticut College Arboretum. New London Ct.