Backyard Gardening: A New Home for Birds and Bees (and Then Some!)
By Candy Gore
If you haven’t had a chance to visit the Penn State Arboretum, located in University Park, you’re missing a local treasure. And, it’s about to add a new jewel to
the crown. At three and a half acres, the new Pollinator and Bird Garden is an expansion of the H.O. Smith Botanical Gardens, originally opened in 2009. Part of the new footprint will occupy the space of the old quarter-acre pollinator garden.
Shari Edelson, Director of Operations for the Arboretum at Penn State, told me the purpose of the new garden is to “provide habitat for, and educate visitors about, the diverse pollinator and bird species that make their homes in our region. We wanted to create a space where visitors could experience the beauty of ecologically sensitive landscape design, learn about pollinators and birds, and even get ideas for their own homes and gardens.” This re-imagined space will also provide a resource for Penn State faculty. Entomologists, ornithologists, and plant scientists will use the new garden as an educational platform.
Some truly special features of this new garden include a wildflower meadow, a shaded wetland, and a fruit orchard. A honey bee observation hive and an incredible bird blind enable us to watch nature up close, without interfering with it! My personal favorite? These clever folks constructed metal supports to secure upright dead trees. The hope is that this will attract birds – and other life forms, such as insects – which use standing deadwood for a habitat. I think this was very innovative.
The philosophy embraced in the choice of landscaping and plants was to authentically create a wide range of habitats for species which are native to Pennsylvania. The Arboretum designed these habitats, literally, from the ground up. They wanted to showcase the widest possible variety of plants to support the needs of a diverse community of pollinators and birds. While not all the plants are Pennsylvania natives, the majority are native to the region, such as Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta).
This labor of love was started in the fall of 2019, and should be essentially completed this spring. Of course, any gardener knows a garden is always a work in progress. Shari shared a lovely anecdote: “One day, we were getting ready to plant perennials in the garden, and we noticed Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) sipping nectar from the Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) before they were even planted! It was the ultimate wildlife stamp of approval.”
Arboretum director Kim Steiner is the lead planner. Emmanuel Didier, principal founder of Didier Design Studio, is lead designer. Planting design is by Phyto Studio. Penn State faculty and staff, including the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research, and Penn State ornithology experts, were all involved in design and construction. Scores of volunteers from various Master Gardener programs (including the author of this article) added elbow grease. I was fortunate to be in a group of volunteers that planted thousands of bulbs. Though I am a huge native plant advocate, I can’t wait to see what promises to be a fabulous spring display. This tremendous space was funded entirely through private donations. “We’re grateful for, and humbled by, their support,” says Shari Edelson.
Be sure to add a visit to the Penn State Arboretum to your bucket list. It is located at East Park Avenue and Bigler Road in State College, Pennsylvania. The Arboretum is open to the public, dawn to dusk, every day of the year. Admission and parking are free.
Candy Gore has been a Penn State certified Master Gardener since 2016. She can be reached at clintonmg@psu.edu or through the Clinton County Master Gardener Hotline at (570) 858-0198.
