Reflections Walk at the .......

The Arboretum is a place for reflection. You are invited to discover spring's glory as you walk by many collections of trees, plants and flowers. Take time to sit, read and enjoy the fresh air, the smell of damp earth, knowing winter is gone, and the time for singing has come.

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush."
                --Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider

Station 1: From the Earth Awakens banner at the Entrance, walk west toward the yellow forsythia. Sit among the scent and blossoms of one of the earliest bushes eager to show off its tiny flowers. Keep an eye out for cardinals, robins, blue jays, sparrows, nuthatches, and always, the frisky squirrels.

"No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.
April is a promise that May is bound to keep,
And we know it!"
                --Hal Borland

 

Station 2: Cross over the bridge and notice the swift running water. Last year a pair of mallards nested down stream, and they may return this year. Please don't disturb them. To your left, the Butterfly Garden will be greening, and beyond, the prairie grasses will be pushing tender blades through the wet ground. As you turn to your right, a bench is waiting under the large catalpa tree for meditating.

"For lo, the winter is past, the rain over and gone,
the flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."

                --Song of Solomon

 

Station 3: As you pause and enjoy the crabapple trees, daffodils and violets on the hillside and the Klehm Peony collection at the bottom, enjoy the riot of color, the rush to scent the air with fragrance-- reminding us that spring is a busy season.

"April hath put a spirit of youth in everything."

                --Wm. Shakespeare

 

Station 4: Use the north bridge to walk by the magnolias, Ballerina and Betty, and on your left wander through the Heartland Collection of Garden Conifers collection. A stone bench at the top of the hill is a perfect spot to view the varied greens of these special trees.

"Spring is when lifes alive in everything."

                --Anne Bradstreet

 

Station 5: Walk over to the wooden bridge and enjoy water tumbling over rocks or sit in the pergola which will be covered with flowering vines in the summer.

"In my old home which I forsook, the cherries are in bloom."

                --ISSA

 

Station 6: Follow the path through the garden conifers lining the way at the top of the hill. Go through the Special Needs Parking Lot and pass by the Alma Shrub Rose Garden. The roses will be greening and the Mercy Hospice Herb Garden to your left will soon be freshly planted. Benches are nearby to rest and linger.

"An optimist is the perfect personification of spring."

                --Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

THANK YOU FOR VISITING THE ARBORETUM!