Demonstration Gardens at the
Center for Urban Horticulture
News Gardens
If you visit the Center for Urban Horticulture, you may notice an ancient hand-carved granite pot from China waiting to greet you. This pot, donated by Charlotte and John Behnke, now sits at the northeast corner of NHS Hall.
This unique limestone pot holds a 15 year old Acer palmatum 'Waterfall' and comes from rural China, where the semi-arid climate makes such pots invaluable for water storage. For centuries, residents carved workable limestone blocks into troughs, mangers, and water vessels; the limestone kept drinking water cool and sweet.
As rural residents have migrated to urban regions for new jobs, the traditional stone vessels have been replaced by concrete, steel, and fiberglass. Cistern and pipe systems have also rendered obsolete the limestone water pots, but this vessel lives on as a symbol of necessity of water for life. Its contemporary use at UW Botanic Gardens lets visitors appreciate the interrelationship between humans and plants.
The
Goodfellow Grove demonstrates the use of native plants in
a transition landscape, flowing from a highly maintained,
intensively used space to a low-maintenance, "naturalistic"
one.
The
Fragrance Garden serves as an entry to the Center for Urban Horticulture, greeting visitors with tantalizing smells and colorful flowers year-round.
McVay
Courtyard garden is located in the interior court area of
the Union Bay Gardens, providing easy access into
and among the surrounding buildings. The plant pallete is
restricted and emphasizes grasses and plants with grass-like
foliage.
This garden displays perennials and bulbs in eight different common
urban conditions, with variable soil textures, watering regimes,
and sun/shade environments so visitors will be able to determine
which plants are most appropriate for particular home garden
conditions.
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