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More than 2 miles of paved trails weave
through thousands of trees and shrubs.
Entrance to Children's Garden
Native prairie area with fall foliage in the
background.
“We get to bring in an audience that
may not always know about an arboretum."
Kris Stone
Boone County
Arboretum Director |
By Aimee Nielson
UNION, Ky., (Nov. 4, 2005) – The Boone County Arboretum in Union is one of the
few – if not the only – arboretums in the country to combine passive recreation
with active recreation such as organized baseball and soccer. Officials believe
the combination is beneficial to all involved.
“I think it helps us meet our goals,” said Kris Stone, arboretum director. “We
get to bring in an audience that may not always know about an arboretum. Some
weekends several thousand people come in for the active ballgames. They
participate in soccer games, baseball games and the parents leave their kid’s
game occasionally and they can go out in the arboretum for a stroll.”
The stroll Stone refers to offers more than 2 miles of paved trails and a newly
added woodland trail. More than 2,700 trees, shrubs and flowers spread out
across the 121-acre park that began in 1997 as a result of the local Cooperative
Extension Council seeing a need in the community for hands-on education about
horticulture.
“In 1997 the horticulture advisory council met and we discussed the fact that we
had a lot of classes relating to trees and shrubs, but without going from
house-to-house or park-to-park it was difficult to get a large group of people
together in one place,” said Mike Klahr, Extension agent for horticulture in
Boone County. “We thought if we could find a parcel of land where we could have
our own trees and shrubs, it would be beneficial for teaching.”
The council studied several locations for the outdoor classroom and finally
decided on Central Park near Union because of existing paved trails that Klahr
said are great for walking, jogging and biking.
“It’s a good cooperative program with the Parks Department and Extension,” Klahr
said. “We use this for all our outdoor classroom educational sessions relating
to trees, shrubs and flowers. We have pruning classes out here, planting
demonstrations and seasonal walk-throughs to learn about trees and shrubs
through plant identification. We also use it for the Master Gardener classes,
and they get involved with the Friends of Boone County Arboretum group to
maintain the arboretum.”
One special area of the arboretum is the Children’s Garden. Stone said the
garden incorporates plants of interest for children to touch and smell. A
highlight of the Children’s Garden is an “A-to-Z” garden containing plants that
have names beginning with each letter of the alphabet. A large playground is
adjacent to the garden. Other areas of interest are three educational kiosks
with plant and class information, and a wildlife viewing is in a native Kentucky
prairie section.
Klahr said visitors also come to the arboretum to look for plants they may want
to try in their own home landscapes.
“Like in the fall they’ll find a plant with a beautiful fall color,” Klahr said.
“We try to keep the plants labeled. The map also helps them determine the name
of a plant so they can use it in their home landscape.”
Stone said the partnership with the Cooperative Extension Service is vital
because their primary means of outreach to the public is through educational
programs.
“Our vision for the arboretum is to continue to help it grow through Extension
programming and volunteers like the Friends of Boone County Arboretum,” Stone
said. “We may have a master planning initiative to provide guidance for what
we’d like the arboretum to do for the community. Our vision is to continue to
grow the arboretum and to help promote horticulture for northern Kentucky and
the greater Cincinnati area.”
Stone and Klahr said they will continue to plant and develop more interesting
trees and shrubs with outstanding ornamental features such as vibrant fall
color, beautiful spring flowers, ornamental fruit, exfoliating bark and winter
fruit, and they may even expand the property and try to add more theme gardens
and more flowers to make a more stunning display overall.
Writer:
Aimee Nielson
859-257-4736, ext. 267
Contact:
Mike Klahr 859-586-6101
Kris
Stone 859-384-4999
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