The Scott Arboretum, Swarthmore College
A Multi-tasking Marvel
2 February 2024
By: James Lennox
Most gardeners only have to please themselves. They can plant what they want where they want. If they're feeling particularly generous, they might on occasion consult their spouse when it comes to the bigger ticket items such as the siting of trees, ponds and outbuildings.
But that's normally the extent of any attempt at crowd-pleasing considerations. We private gardeners tend not to engage in pandering to the masses or second-guessing what might garner praise from horticultural critics.
Now imagine you've got some 400 acres to play with. You're catering not just to faculty and staff but some 1,600 students as well. Do you play safe and turn the whole lot into playing fields for the sporty and lawns for the less active to sunbathe on? A cheap and cheerful institutional solution, in other words.
Or do you throw caution to the wind, create a world-class collection of trees and shrubs in a thoughtfully landscaped setting, and then allow free year round access to visitors?
Swarthmore College decided to go with Option B. Perhaps it was an obvious choice back in 1929 when the Scott Arboretum was established as a memorial to a former student. Philadelphia's status as the country's horticultural capital was undisputed and Swarthmore's benign climate (by US standards) allowed for the choicest specimens, both native and exotic, to thrive.
An arboretum can be a queer thing to visit. The term can be used to describe anything from a random selection of favourites crammed together any old how at the whim of the owner (not dissimilar to what I've assembed at La Corolla!) to a dry-as-dust textbook come to life, with individuals grouped strictly according to botanical classifications and an emphasis on specimens grown from wild-collected seed. The niceties of landscape design can be absent from both types.
Fortunately, the Scott Arboretum has trodden that elusive middle path - it's a serious scientific collection with an emphasis on displaying the exhibits in a sympathetic manner. Where appropriate the trees have been underplanted, borders have been expanded, seating areas created and, as a result, the whole arboretum has been lent the air of a vast garden.
And as such, it succeeds on many levels: as a green backdrop to the lives of students; as a work environment for the adults on campus; as a unifying thread running between an eclectic range of buildings; as a living collection of the very best plants that can grow in the region; as a haven for wildlife in a suburban environment; and, as a visitor experience for yours truly.
It's quite the juggling act. But all elements come together in the Amphitheatre. A setting for graduation ceremonies, this space was created in 1942 by local landscape architect Thomas W. Sears within a grove of existing tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera). And for me, it epitomises the American approach to incorporating trees into everyday life.
Unlike Europeans brought up on Teutonic tales of dark, sinister forests wherein lurk witches and wolves and whatnot, East Coast Americans seem positively to embrace trees, in this instance using them as a setting for marking a milestone in the lives of the young students.
They aspire to live surrounded by them, building their houses beneath them, relying on them for shelter, fuel and sustenance. The entire East Coast can feel at times like one vast woodland, filled with an astonishing variety of native species an Englishman can only dream of planting.
And just as American dentists have refined the science behind that perfect All-American smile, so too have American arboriculturists perfected the art of growing and showing trees at their absolute best. There are no wind-blown crowns, twin leaders or dead branches snagged in the canopy. Perhaps it's just one of the benefits of a more litigious society (I dread to think of the lawsuits if a limb came crashing down on a passer-by), but all the trees here have been encouraged to develop their innate characteristics to the full thanks to the guiding hand of man.
In the Amphitheatre, the slope was graded, walls built, terraces levelled and a stage erected, all without removing or damaging the trees. The gun-barrel straight trunks of the tulip trees soar to over 100 feet, dwarfing student gatherings or visitor picnics. It's impossible not to be in awe of these giants - and applaud the sensitivity of the landscaping. (Side note: tulip trees never seem to grow quite as tall or as straight in Europe. I still can’t resist planting them though.)
Elsewhere on campus, the emphasis is very much on displaying select trees in the most pleasing way. Individuals of great beauty are set in splendid isolation. What more does an Emmenopterys henryi in full flower need but a circle of mulch and a chair? This is brave, understated simplicity for a tree described by E.H. Wilson as “one of the most strikingly beautfiul of Chinese trees”. Free-flowering from a young age here, it's frustratingly reluctant to do its thing in Britain. Let's see how it fares at La Corolla.
A sheltered spot has been found for a group of Franklinias and x Gordlinias, flowering their socks off in early September. They even merited a glance from students scurrying by, for once taking a break from swiping and tapping on their phones.
Some trees are relegated to less privileged positions, like the Euscaphis japonica squeezed between a wall and a bike rack. This one was impossible to ignore with its flaming red seed pods, presumably placed here to give it a baking in summer and some protection in winter.
There are collections of hollies, buckeyes (Aesculus sp.), magnolias and bean trees (Catalpa sp.). There's a pinetum, a rose garden and an avenue of swamp white oaks (Quercus bicolor) thrown in for good measure. But where the arboretum really excels is in its ability to integrate the trees with the built environment.
As with most college campuses, faculty buildings and student accommodation have been thrown up randomly over time, each with its own architect keen to show off his undoubted genius. Enter the gardener with his ability to soften every structure and incorporate it into the flow of the landscape.
Nowhere is this more evident than around the Scott Arboretum offices. A rustic shingled building, it is almost hidden by the exuberant planting that surrounds it. Mixed borders in full sun on one side, a cool shady foliage garden on the other. There's a lesson here for the domestic gardener struggling to find inspiration for planting a contrasting front and back garden. Let foliage rule the shade and keep your flowers for the sun. Sophisticated and simple at the same time.
Every area has been individually considered - there's no sense of a routine planting plan being imposed. Each responds to the buildings around it and the particular conditions that they provide. A cloistered courtyard is filled with fragrant plants, a Magnolia grandiflora ‘Hasse’ pumping out its signature lemon freshness.
Another courtyard is more experimental, where amongst the trunks of the local Betula nigra, a Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Shishigashira’ - you either love it or hate it with its scrunched leaves) faces off against a Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’.
This is definitely not play-it-safe municipal planting. I'll leave you to decide who wins the bout.
Around the corner, a shady spot created by a white oak and a persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) has been underplanted with strips of Helleborus x hybridus ‘Black Diamond’, Carex oshimensis ‘Everillo’, Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’, Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’, Athyrium niponicum var. pictum and Adiantum pedatum. No doubt there's some irrigation in the height of summer but it’s well worth it. It takes great skill to employ a limited palette of foliage plants to such striking effect in an otherwise anonymous spot.
Somehow, someone has even managed to sneak in a prairie-style meadow, without it in any way feeling out of place amidst the exotic trees. That's one of the advantages of having so many buildings dotted around. Much like yew hedges in an Arts & Crafts-inspired garden, they help foster a sense of separation and anticipation. Each corner could, and here does, reveal a fresh treat.
One such is the avenue of Metasequoia glyptostroboides which funnels pedestrians between two undistinguished office blocks. It's a bold move in such a narrow space, especially as nobody knows quite how big these beasts might grow in captivity. Rather than being planted as stand-alone specimens, the trees are tightly packed, creating a sense of drama in an otherwise forgettable spot. Time will tell whether this was a fit of genius - or just a plain fit.
Two qualities unite all these pockets: imagination and attention. The lower-level planting is out of the ordinary without looking out of place. Even where areas have been paved, pots and benches are skilfully deployed to soften any harshness.
Not only does this allow the garden team to show off their creativity and their knowledge of tender shrubs, it also provides opportunities for their customers, the staff and students, to relax, socialise and take time out, fostering the sense of community that pervades the entire campus.
All of which helps to remind visitors quite how fortunate the current inhabitants of the college are. Sure, the students might not appreciate all the subtleties. Perhaps they absorb some appreciation of the finer, green things in life via osmosis - here's hoping. Or it might just be their parents who appreciate what's happening here when they pitch up for graduation.
But the effort certainly wasn't wasted on this particular visitor. The obvious care and attention of the staff, the quirkiness and personality of the planting and the sheer quality of the specimens on display all shine through.
Now where do I get hold of a Euscaphis?
More information here: https://www.scottarboretum.org/
