Penn College Attraction Highlighted in Latest 'Conifer Quarterly'

Pennsylvania College of Technology's Schneebeli Earth Science Center is featured in the latest issue of a national trade magazine, in which horticulture faculty member Carl J. Bower Jr. details the addition of a conifer garden to the facility's 5-acre arboretum.

Published in the winter edition of Conifer Quarterly,with accompanying photos by the author, "The Creation of a Garden" relates the process from initial grant funding to the realization of a dream: a defined area of dwarf and slow-growing conifers at the Allenwood-area campus. (A photo gallery of the garden is available elsewhere on PCToday.)



The four-page article outlines the oft-changed design of the garden, in conjunction with faculty colleagues and students in the School of Natural Resources Management, and the unique challenges not the least of which was safeguarding the collection from hungry deer.

"We came up with the idea to incorporate this new garden among many of the larger specimens within the arboretum instead of placing it on the outskirts, as was initially planned," Bower wrote. "What better way to show off these plants and to give them a sense of scale than to place them near their straight species!"

The garden was funded by a $1,500 grant from the American Conifer Society, which publishes the magazine, and an identical match from Iseli Nursery Inc. in Boring, Ore.

"The vision was that visitors would enter the garden through one gate, and then limestone paths would lead them around a raised bed of dwarf conifers with larger conifers and deciduous shrubs surrounding them, complimenting the new area," the article continues. "The response "¦ has been overwhelming. Everyone at school looks forward to watching the garden grow over the years and sharing in the experience of educating our students and the public who visit it."

For more information about the School of Natural Resources Management, headquartered 10 miles south of the college's main campus, visit online , send e-mail or call (570) 320-8038.

For more information about Penn College, visit on the Web , e-mail or call toll-free (800) 367-9222.