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The Michigan State University Horticulture Gardens are horticultural gardens, with a landscape arboretum, located on Bogue Street on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, Michigan. The gardens are open to the public daily without charge. The gardens are a popular visitor destination on campus, and have been throughout their history. There have been gardens on campus almost since the founding of the Michigan Agricultural College, which would become Michigan State University. After being moved around because of new buildings being built, the current gardens are located adjacent to the Plant and Soil Science Building, which houses the Department of Horticulture, and its teaching greenhouses. The main features of the gardens are as follows: * Amien and Florence M. Carter Annual Garden - more than 1,000 varieties of annuals and helpful student workers! * Clarence E. Lewis Landscape Arboretum, founded in 1982 - a working arboretum for landscape students. * Frank's Nursery Rose Garden - over 700 rose cultivars. * Michigan 4-H Children’s Garden - 55 theme areas plus the Goon Squad. * Perennial Garden - 400 species suited for Michigan. ==History== The very first gardens on campus were the botanical gardens, which were started in 1877 (Beal 252). Before the botanical gardens gained large popularity there was also the Horticultural greenhouse. It was popular for visitors and was said at the time to be the most interesting place on campus (Lyon 204). Before there were designated Horticultural gardens, all of the grounds were described as the way Milton pictured Eden: "A happy rural seat of various views." (Lyon 203). The first designated Horticulture gardens were actually test plots for horticultural crops. For example, trees there were used for experiments with fungicides in 1889 (Davidson 76). The first display gardens had a dual purpose of being a display for students and visitors and providing plants for class use. Plants included roses, annuals, perennials, and bulbs. They were designed in the early 1930s by T. Glenn Philips, who was the college landscape architect at the time (76). They were located in the center of what is now East Circle and extended to where the Student Services Building now stands. The gardens were very popular with visitors and there were an estimated 40,000 in the summer of 1935. The Horticulture gardens were clearly distinguished from the botanical gardens in the late 1940s after a dispute about who had responsibility of them. President Hannah assigned responsibility of the botanical gardens to the botany department and the horticulture gardens to the horticulture department. The Horticulture department was also to serve all the buildings on campus with floral arrangements (76). Changes had to be made to the gardens due to the building of the Natural Science Building and the Student Services Building. The newly designed garden included a grassy area with a fountain that was surrounded by ‘Red Jade’ crab apples in the middle. Jack and Perkins released it’s ‘Spartan’ rose in 1955 in honor of Michigan State University’s centennial. By 1971 the gardens had become a popular place for special events, including weddings, twelve of which took place in that year (77). In 1978 Michigan State University was asked by All-America Selections and professional seed producers to begin participating in the network of trial gardens scattered across the United States. Lowell Ewart took responsibility for the Michigan State University Trial Gardens. Trial gardens allow plant companies to see what varieties do well in different climates. Flower seed companies decide what plants would be tested and submit thousands of varieties for testing in Michigan. Bedding plants would be started in the Horticulture Teaching Greenhouse around March and April and then would be transplanted in May. Each variety was assigned a number and evaluated by a judge three times a summer, and information about those evaluations was published at the end of every growing season. Bedding plant producers met at the site in early August to evaluate the trials and decide what to grow in the trials what next season. The trial garden consisted of about half an acre containing 30,000 plants. The trial gardens were moved to the current site in the late 1980s and the current manager is Katie Carver. Fundraising for the newest and final gardens began in 1987, and despite doubts by faculty, three million was raised by the time the gardens were dedicated in 1993. Work on the new gardens began in 1989 after the Plant and Soil Science Building was completed. The gardens were moved adjacent to the Plant and Soil Science Building because the horticulture department was moved to this building, so it was fitting that the gardens be moved as well. All of the perennials from the old garden were moved to the new site, plus more were added (78). The square footage of perennials went from 1500 to 18,000. The Michigan 4-H Children’s Garden was started in 1991 and finished in 1993. The gardens now offer 7.5 acres to visit and are enjoyed by 300,000 visitors each year. After moving the new gardens to the current location, the department was unable to maintain the old gardens next to the Old Horticulture Building and the area was converted to a green space, but at the dismay of many students who enjoyed the area. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Michigan State University Horticulture Gardens」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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