Gilman Park Arboretum Celebrates 20 Years with Oct. 2 Tour

East Campus pillars at enterance

Sept. 18, 2013

Pierce, Neb. — Gilman Park Arboretum in Pierce celebrates its 20th anniversary with a tour, Oct. 2, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., led by Park Superintendent Gary Zimmer, who has overseen the arboretum from its beginning.

"The arboretum has undergone almost every known disaster that can occur in Nebraska. An ice storm in 2005 that resulted in the loss of several trees, flooding in 2010, and severe drought in 2012 and 2013," Zimmer said. "Through it all, the city of Pierce, an amazing group of volunteers, generous donations and memorials enabled the arboretum to expand both its plant collections and its role as a community resource."

Accredited by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum in 1996, the park has more than 300 different varieties of trees and shrubs and an expansive collection of perennials and grasses. A 24-page trail guide, available at the arboretum entrance, features 88 plant and garden features of special interest because of their uniqueness, important features, special uses or desirable characteristics. The guide describes landscape uses, growing conditions, size, growth rate, hardiness, flowering characteristics and fall color. Each plant is listed by both common and botanical names.

The arboretum includes many specialty gardens, such as a wildflower and ornamental grass garden, butterfly garden, daylily collection, xeriscape garden, wet mesic garden (wet in winter and dry in summer), focused plantings around the entrance and a historic bridge. A 4-foot-wide sidewalk more than a mile long makes the entire trail accessible for all visitors, including residents of nearby Pierce Manor, with a sidewalk extending to the building.

 "It is one of the most beautiful public gardens in the state and also one of the most effective in terms of education, demonstration and community connection," said NSA Horticulture Program Coordinator Bob Henrickson.

Memorial plantings and grants from NSA, the Nebraska Small Business Administration, the Lower Elkhorn NRD and ISTEA enabled many arboretum improvements. Of the total $114,000 spent to make Gilman Park such an important part of the community, only about one-third came from the city's budget, according to Zimmer.

Zimmer and Henrickson agree that the natural disasters the arboretum experienced have increased its outreach, since the arboretum offered a model for dealing with damage from winds, storms and flooding.

The tour ends with a bring-your-own picnic lunch (City of Pierce will provide bottled water), a tree planting to expand the local collection and to celebrate ReTree Nebraska, and a demonstration of root-quality production methods. For more information about the arboretum or the tour, go to www.gilmanparkarboretum.com/ or contact Zimmer at 402-329-4873 or gilman@ptcnet.net.

Susan Helmink
Communications Specialist
Nebraska Forest Service
402-472-9869
shelmink3@unl.edu

Dan Moser
IANR News Service
402-472-3030
dmoser3@unl.edu


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