Garden-party weekend planned for Hartley Garden dedication

By Jim Barlow

Three acres of colorful flowers and pleasing scents await visitors
at the Friday public dedication and first tours Saturday and Sunday
of the Miles C Hartley Selections Garden at the UI.

The Miles C Hartley Garden - the first completed part of the
proposed UI Arboretum project - will be dedicated at 4 p.m.
Friday at the southeast corner of Florida and Lincoln avenues in
Urbana.

Speakers for Friday's dedication, at the southwest corner of the
Hartley Garden, will be Judith Zuk, the president of the American
Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, and Nona Wolfram-
Koivula, the executive director of the National Garden Bureau. A
reception in the garden will follow the dedication.

"The Hartley Garden contains bedding plants competing in the 1994
All-American Selections Program," said Anton G. Endress, head of
the UI horticulture department. "And it is currently a 3-acre
kaleidoscope of color and wonderful floral scents."

Tour hours will be 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. to 5
p.m. Sunday. In addition to being able to tour the Hartley
Garden, visitors on Sunday will have the opportunity to be
transported for a tour of a nearby prairie restoration project.
The theme of the weekend's festivities is "A Community
Celebration in the Garden."

Experts will be available Sunday to answer questions about fall
planting, garden design, plant insects and disease diagnosis.
Children will find a variety of activities to take part in,
including bulb-planting. Visitors can learn how to attract
butterflies to their gardens, and the work of 16 artists will be
on view. There also will be Herb Society demonstrations, garden-
club talks and crafts for all ages.

Parking for all events will be at the Florida and Lincoln Playing
Field Complex lot west of the Florida-Lincoln intersection, at
the veterinary medicine parking lot off Lincoln Avenue south of
the garden, and across Lincoln Avenue from the veterinary
facility.

The Hartley Garden was constructed with funds from a bequest of
Miles C Hartley, a UI graduate who also served as a faculty
member from 1948 to 1962. New varieties of annual bedding plants
will be evaluated in the garden, such as those currently
competing in the All-American Selections Garden. University
experts will study how participating companies' seeds grow and
flower, as well as how the plants tolerate disease and insects.

The site where the Hartley Garden is located is envisioned to
house the UI Arboretum, "a living laboratory for research and
teaching in the plant sciences and in fine and applied arts,"
Endress said. It will focus on native Illinois nursery stock and
the possible use of the various plant species in landscaping
designs that enhance people's well-being and recreational
endeavors.

"One day, visitors entering the arboretum will step into the
middle of an unfolding story," he said. "Visitors will be
surrounded by a tale of research, of instruction, of design and
application."

The arboretum will have three sections, including a core area
that will feature the Hartley Garden. A collections section will
house woody plants arranged in a park-like setting; woodland,
savanna and wet-prairie ecosystems will be highlighted in the
third area.

Support from UI alumni and friends led to the concept and plan
for the arboretum project. Its completion will rely exclusively
on private gifts and grants from individuals, organizations and
businesses.