Tucked between downtown Madison and the beltline is the UW-Arboretum. An arboretum is a collection of plants in a park-like area available for public enjoyment as well as research.
David Stevens is the curator of the Longnecker Horticultural Gardens at the UW-Arboretum where he specializes in 2,600 different types of woody plants which consist of trees, shrubs, and some vines. They have virtually every native species from Wisconsin and many from throughout the world.
Most of the research focuses on adaptability to Wisconsin’s environment. Stevens said, “we’re planting them out to see how they do in the summer and more so in our winters where we do drop down to minus twenty or minus thirty every so many years which really weeds out what is going to be winter hardy.” They then make recommendations to individuals and municipalities on what they can plant in their yards or along streets.
Stevens also emphasizes that the Arboretum does act as a resource to preserve unique genetics. If wild populations of a rare species were lost due to disease, they have the ability to work with other Arboretums to breed those species from plants they already have.
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