The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College I (8/9/2020)

Sunday, August 9, 2020

We found more things to see in Swarthmore, PA! Today we combined three walking tours: Campus Art in the Garden, Scott Arboretum North, and Scott Arboretum South. (Scott Arboretum also has an Art in the Garden brochure.) This was an 8,000 step walk! We will also throw in a few Swarthmore College buildings.

Swarthmore College: McCabe Library (1967); a fortress for books?

Scott Arboretum N & S: Teaching Garden:
Pycnanthemum muticum/Mountain Mint

Scott Arboretum N & S: Teaching Garden: Pleioblastus viridistriatus
'Chrysophyllus'/Dwarf Goldenleaf Bamboo (KSS)

The dwarf bamboo was mislabeled, or it has overrun the beautyberry (KSS)

Scott Arboretum N: Teaching Garden pool/pond

Campus Art in the Garden: Mina (1996 by Lydia Leavitt) hides
the practical function of circulating water in the pool/pond

Wister Center tilework

Tree bark attempts to camouflage a pipe (KSS)

Another look at Cunningham House (1887-1888), now the
offices of Scott Arboretum with the Entrance Garden

Scott Arboretum N & S: Entrance Garden: Danaus plexippus/
Monarch Butterfly in Verbena bonariensis/Purpletop Vervain (KSS)

We have already seen the Cherry Border, but wandered northward along it.

On the east side of Meetinghouse Woods is the Whisper Bench,
which we tested: sitting at one end you can hear the whisper
of someone sitting at the other end of the stone bench

The Whisper Bench is maintained as a memorial for Carolien "Chica" Powers Maynard, Class of '48.

We had already seen the Lilac Collection in front of the Meetinghouse, so continued westward.

It appears a fallen tree has been left to create a small oasis next to
the Maxine Frank Singer '52 Hall that is under construction (KSS)

Scott Arboretum N: Hydrangea Collection contains
cultivars that do well in the Delaware Valley

Campus Art in the Garden: The Urn (c 1977, by
Harry Bertoia) was created by brushing molten metal on the ground

Scott Arboretum N: Wood Garden is named for
Harry Wood, the head gardener from 1927-1958;
the redesigned courtyard still includes river birches
and arrangements of rocks from the Pocono Mountains

Scott Arboretum N: Wood Garden: Yucca rostrata
'Sapphire Skies'/Beaked Yucca (KSS)

Scott Arboretum N: Glade Garden: Water Stairway

Scott Arboretum N: Glade Garden with native plantings
including redbuds and deciduous azaleas

Scott Arboretum N: Glade Garden:
Lobelia cardinalis/Cardinal Flower

The lower end of the Water Stairway, where
rainwater is collected for reuse

Swarthmore College: Kohlberg Hall (1996, by Margaret Helfland
and Stanton Eckstut) has some pastel Piet Mondrian-esque windows

Scott Arboretum N: Nuts of the Carya aquatica/
Water Hickory (KSS)

Scott Arboretum N: Pollinator Garden for attracting
birds, bees, and butterflies

A beehive box

Inside the beehive box

Scott Arboretum N: Pollinator Garden: Papilio glaucus/
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Phlox paniculata/Tall Phlox (KSS)

Scott Arboretum N: Cornus kousa 'Wolf Eyes'/Kousa Dogwood

Campus Art in the Garden: Back from Rio
(1959, by Alexander Calder) (KSS)

Swarthmore College: Martin Biological Laboratory (1937)

Swarthmore College: Martin Biological Laboratory
has that Art Deco look

Scott Arboretum N: Along the stairs in front of the Biology Greenhouse
is the Winter Garden that contains plants that bloom in the winter

Campus Art in the Garden: Garnet (c 1974, by Robert Murray)
was inspired by the school color of Swarthmore College (KSS)

Scott Arboretum N: Metasequoia Allée
with Metasequoia glyptostroboides/Dawn Redwoods

Scott Arboretum N: Within the
Metasequoia Allée (KSS)

Next: Swarthmore College Scott Arboretum II.