Coming Soon: Penn State’s Ambitious New Pollinator and Bird Garden

October 27th, 2020

   A pollinator garden was one of the first gardens built at the fledgling Penn State Arboretum, located at the northern edge of the university’s main campus.

The walks are in as construction continues on Penn State’s new Pollinator and Bird Garden.

   But the new and greatly expanded Pollinator and Bird Garden that’s now under construction is one that Arboretum Director Kim Steiner says will be unlike anything you’ll see anywhere else.

   “Nobody has ever tried to do what we’re going to try to do here, and that is attract every single species of native pollinator in this region,” says Steiner. “And that’s several hundred species of insects.”

   The garden endeavors to do that by recasting the one-time flat and unremarkable site into a new environment that features grade changes, water sources, wetlands, a woodland, a dry meadow, and 90,000 plants of 390 mostly ultra-native species – basically all of the diversity that any Pennsylvania pollinator might want.

   The Pollinator and Bird Garden will cover three acres of the arboretum’s H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens, increasing the size of that display-garden part of the arboretum tract by 60 percent. The original Pollinator Garden is being rolled into it.

   The site has been a beehive of construction activity this month (sorry, couldn’t resist) as crews have been building structures, laying concrete, and moving mountains of dirt.

   The basic framework is now in place, including a large wooden structure that will become a honeybee observation hive.

   Volunteers even planted the first plugs of the 90,000 new plants during the first weekend in September.

   “Bees and butterflies were at work on flowers just 24 hours later, so we can declare the garden an early success!” says Steiner, who’s also a Penn State professor of forest biology.

   Construction will finish this winter with the bulk of planting to happen in spring. And then visitors will get to see what’s been in the planning for a decade and is costing $9 million in private donations to build.

   “Pollination is a big deal right now,” says Steiner. “It’s been in the news a lot. We’re losing bees, but it’s extremely important economically, too. There’s evidence that many of the native bees that are very important for pollination are having troubles.”

Here’s a view of what’s going on at the Pollinator and Bird Garden through the construction fence.

   The new Pollinator and Bird Garden is not just something pretty to look at. It’s intended to increase the public’s pollinator awareness as well as serve as a living lab for Penn State’s Center for Pollinator Research.

   That team of ornithologists, entomologists, ecologists, horticulturists, and botanists played a key role in the garden’s design.

   A blue construction fence currently surrounds the three acres of future habitat that’s located between the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens and State College’s adjacent College Heights neighborhood.

   A raised, circular meadow will welcome visitors (and pollinators) at the new garden’s main entrance, which is down a wide walkway flanked by seasonal display gardens.

   A large bird habitat with pond and wetland will be behind that, aimed at attracting a wide array of bird species.

   A walk-in alcove will give visitors a look at plants that grow in four of the region’s different soil profiles.

   Crews were moving piles of soil last week to create hills and an overlook, and many tons of locally collected limestone boulders will dot the new landscape.

   Many of the 390 species of plants to be used in the garden are unusual, rare, endangered, and not widely available at garden centers. So be prepared to see some plants you’ve likely never seen before.

   Staff is using 30 different nurseries to acquire everything on the plant list.

This map shows the layout of the future Pollinator and Bird Garden.

   Other features will include a Bird House that will highlight feeding, bathing, and nesting sites for songbirds, a shade garden, a fruit orchard, an evening garden, pollinator “hotels,” and specialty gardens that show how insect pollination works.

   If it’s anything in the same league as the fabulous Holden Butterfly Garden that I saw earlier this month at Cleveland’s Holden Arboretum, this has the makings of one of America’s premier pollinator gardens.

   Steiner calls it “cutting-edge horticultural design” and says the new garden “will become a model for future gardens.”

  The Penn State arboretum is open daily from dawn to dusk and is free, although you’ll need to pick up a parking pass at the Overlook Pavilion if you’re going on a weekday between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.

   The site is located at the intersection of Bigler Road and Park Avenue, just to the northwest of Beaver Stadium. Face-coverings and social-distancing are required.

The Childhood’s Gate children’s garden is in its full fall glory.

   If you haven’t seen the Arboretum and Smith Botanic Gardens yet, the place is really top notch despite being only a fraction so far of the 30 acres of gardens and 340 acres of woodlands in the master plan.

   The Childhood’s Gate children’s garden was looking particularly superb last week with so many woody plants in their brilliant fall cloaks and seasonal displays featuring mums, sunflowers, purple kale, purple-leafed broom corn, pansies, and celosia.

   The tree collection is already nicely varied, too.

   After the new pollinator garden, future plans include a conservatory, an education center, a medieval garden, an expansion of the existing Rose and Fragrance Garden, several new wooded areas, and a collection of perennial gardens.