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IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ANDERSEN HORTICULTURAL LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AT THE ARBORETUM

Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish Naturalist: A 300th Birthday Celebration
“Linnaeus is certainly one of the two seminal figures who profoundly influenced our understanding of the natural sciences,” says Richard Isaacson, head librarian of the arboretum’s Andersen Horticultural Library and curator of the Linnaeus exhibition. “The other was Darwin.”

Linnaeus (1707–78) was a Swedish naturalist who devised the naming system still used today to classify and name animals, minerals, and vegetables throughout the world. “He’s as important to a dirt gardener as he is to scientists,” Isaacson says. “If a gardener comes in and asks for a ‘Dizzy Lizzy,’ we don’t know what they’re talking about. If they say they want information on impatiens, then we’re talking the same language and that language was developed by Linnaeus.”

The exhibition will be located in the arboretum’s Andersen Horticultural Library and throughout the lobby of the historic Snyder Building. On display will be first editions of Linnaeus’s books, 19 insects he named (some found in Minnesota), books on Linnaeus, and a 7-foot-tall illustration of the scientist in his Lapland costume.

“Maybe one out of three people know something about Linnaeus,” Isaacson says. “So we’ve assembled this exhibition so anyone viewing it will have a new, or renewed, understanding of why he’s so important.”

The Linnaeus exhibit runs May 12 through November 4.

Maze Garden and Art to A-Maze Walk
The arboretum opens a new adventure for families this summer: a Maze Garden. Designed by William Frost, a Northfield, Minnesota–based labyrinth designer, the Maze Garden is nestled in the pine collection off of Three-Mile Drive, which winds through the arboretum. Interlocking pathways lined with arborvitae, lattice, bamboo, fabric walls, and flowering plants provide “enough fun and challenge to test older children and adults,” says Peter Olin, arboretum director.

“We don’t want anyone to get lost,” Olin continues. “We do want visitors to realize that plants can be fun.” The maze features a lookout tower, which visitors can climb to see an overview of the maze or to watch the kids exploring the paths of a second, smaller maze designed especially for them.

To encourage visitors to walk from the Oswald Visitor Center to the Maze Garden— a walk that winds through grasses, herbs, and roses—the arboretum created an “Art to A-Maze Walk” punctuated by a juried collection of 15 environmental-art installations. The jury of artists and landscape architects led by Roger Martin, who founded the University’s Department of Landscape Architecture, selected the artworks from 74 submissions.

The artworks feature names like Onus Cube, Grotto of Narcissus, Children’s Nest Egg, and Chairology. “They’re sort of wild,” Olin says with a laugh. “Some are planted installations, some are sculptures. But they’re all environmental artworks that explore the relationship between humans and nature.”

The Maze Garden opens permanently June 16, and the Art to A-Maze Walk is open June 16 through September 30.

SummerHouse
Building on the success of the arboretum’s immensely popular AppleHouse, in which visitors have tasted University apple hybrids including Honeycrisp, the arboretum now introduces SummerHouse, a source for locally grown produce. SummerHouse is an outgrowth of the arboretum’s Heartland Cooking Series, which delves into traditional, seasonal recipes made with locally produced, sustainably grown foods.

Visitors to SummerHouse can purchase locally produced fruits, flowers, vegetables, and herbs; cheese, butter, and breads; and garden-related gifts, tools, and gear. In the fall (late August through mid-October), SummerHouse will share a location with AppleHouse, doubling the opportunity to select late-season produce and plants in a charming, rustic setting.

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the largest public garden in the Upper Midwest, features 900 acres of diverse gardens especially designed and developed for our unique northern climate. Part of the University’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, the arboretum is located nine miles west of Interstate 494 on Highway 5 in Chanhassen.

For more information, visit www.arboretum.umn.edu.

SummerHouse is open May 18 through mid-August.

—Camille LeFevre