Chapter Workshop
January 30, 2010 (snow date February 6)
Smith College Lyman Conservatory
15 College Lane, Northampton, MA 01063
(413) 585-2742
Agenda
9:30 – 10:00 Registration
10:00-11:00 Tour
11:00-12:00 HT Activity
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-3:00 Business meeting
The Botanic Garden of Smith College was founded over one hundred years ago by L. Clarke Seelye, the College's first president, who expressed his hope that the whole campus could be developed as a botanic garden so that it might be of scientific as well as aesthetic value. The landscape architecture firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, of Central Park fame, was enlisted to create that plan. The spirit of this concept has persisted at Smith College since that time and remains basic to our purpose. Today the Botanic Garden serves as a living museum of plants native to New England and areas all around the globe. Our goals are education, research, display and conservation.
The Garden encompasses the Lyman Conservatory and the 125 contiguous acre college campus with a variety of specialty gardens, which contain over 7000 labeled and mapped plants. The Botanic Garden began as a collection of plants from around the world, supporting classical studies of plant systematics and physiology. In time, the Garden evolved into a landscape for learning, complete with a sizable conservatory filled with botanical wonders. Conservatory collections include cacti and succulents, ferns, epiphytes, orchids, fragrant plants, economic crops, carnivorous plants, and other tropical plants. Outdoor collections feature woody trees and shrubs, a rock garden, systematics garden, perennial garden, and herb garden. Today our plant collections are used for teaching and research at Smith College. We provide plant material to research scientists nationally and internationally.
Images and information about our plant collection are available and searchable at www.smith.edu/garden.
Lyman Plant House: Open daily 8:30 am to 4:00 pm (Closed Thanksgiving Day and between Christmas and New Years)
Lyman Conservatory: One of the few remaining plant conservatories in the United States built in the 19th century, core greenhouses dating from 1895, built by Lord& Burnham. The facility recently underwent a renovation, which was completed in 2003.
Spring Bulb Show: March 6 - 21, 2010
Fall Chrysanthemum Show: November 6 - 21, 2010
Audio tours - $1 per person, free for Friends of the Botanic garden and anyone with a Smith College ID (Sorry, no audio tours during the Spring Bulb Show)
Church Exhibition Gallery: Changing education displays
March 6 - July 30, 2010 - The Inner Beauty of Flowers: Floral X-rays
Conservatory Collection: 12,000 square feet containing approximately 1500 taxa. Collections include succulents, ferns, tropicals, subtropicals, and epiphytes, arranged biogeographically. Two special shows are featured annually: the Spring Bulb Show in the first two weeks of March and the Autumn Chrysanthemum Show during the first two weeks in November
Campus Gardens and Arboretum: Open daily dawn to dusk.
Features over 1100 woody trees and shrubs spread throughout the campus.
Systematics Garden: Plants are arranged taxonomically for study. The garden was originally laid out in 1894 and redesigned in 1980s by Gregory Armstrong, and displays 32 plant families, approximately 950 taxa.
Rock Garden: Established in 1897 by William Ganong and Edward Canning it contains over 1800 alpine taxa, including some threatened and endangered plants. One of the oldest Rock Gardens in North America; it was restored by William Campbell in 1937 and again in 1983 by Gregory Armstrong and Ellen Shukis. Modeled on the Rock Garden at Kew it exhibits outcrop, moraine, and scree rock formations of alpine habitats.
Ruth Brown Richardson '13 Memorial Perennial Border:
Planted in 1984 for purely ornamental purposes, along the fence bordering College Lane.
President's Residence Garden: Includes a formal Herb Garden.
Wildflower and Woodland Garden: Situated along the ravine behind the President's House.
Japanese Garden for Reflection and Contemplation: Design by David Slawson in 1986, creating the harmony and serenity of a traditional Japanese garden, while tying it into the New England landscape by using native flora and local rocks. Rock compositions around the Tea Hut depict various stages in the life of Buddha.
Capen Garden: A quiet garden space across Elm Street on other side of campus, this garden was recently renovated and is used as an outdoor laboratory for horticulture students. It is designed as a series of outdoor garden rooms each with its own character, including a formal knot and gazebo garden, and a fountain donated by the Friends of the Botanic Garden.
Also, there is a visitor’s guide online, who has a lot of information, including directions: www.smith.edu/garden/Home/visitor-guide.pdf. I will have hard copies of that available for the group as well as our guide to trees on campus, and a copy of our newsletter (past issues of that are also online -- www.smith.edu/garden/Newsletter/botgarnews.html
Directions: Take Route 91N to Exit 18. Turn left at the end of the ramp on Route 5N. Go about one mile to the center of Northampton. Turn left at the first traffic light on to Route 9. Go through 4 traffic lights and turn left into Smith College’s main entrance (College Lane) just opposite the chapel. The Botanic Garden is ahead on your left. Some parking is available in front of the Lyman Conservatory or on Route 9.