Garden Talk: Sustainable Gardening With Native Plants

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• UW Arboretum — Now Known For Its Vibrant Displays — Was A Model For Ecological Restoration

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  The University of Wisconsin- Madison Arboretum is known for its acres of horticulture displays showcasing its memorable lilacs, crabapples trees, and now hydrangeas. But that wasn’t always the case.

  The original intent of the arboretum was to “create teaching laboratories for the botany department and the landscape department on campus,” according to Molly Fifield-Murray, outreach programs manager for the UW Arboretum.

  In 1911, landscape artist John Nolen first proposed an “Arboretum for the University.” The project came to fruition with the later help of Michael Olbrich and Aldo Leopold, who, as the arboretum’s research director in the 1930s, guided the proces of ecological restoration to “reestablish the original Wisconsin landscape.”

  According to the UW Arboretum, the Civilian Conservation Corps labored between 1935 and 1941 to begin restoring the ecological communities. Continued work has been done to maintain them throughout the years.

  The ecological restoration brought back the state’s tallgrass prairies and oak savannas. The arboretum boasts that the prairie restoration was the first of its kind in the world.

  And even though the crowds don’t come out to the arboretum just yet for the fall displays, the prairie is spectacular with color, Fifield-Murray said.

  “It turns color earlier than the woodlands, so it’s already turned red and gold. But there are still the bright yellow sunflowers in bloom and many of the goldenrods,” Fifield-Murray said.