Cary Garden
The Cary Award Garden is a collection of distinctive trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and vines that are well suited for New England landscapes. This garden is located directly north of the Blasberg Building. The Cary Award was created in 1997 and run through 2018 under the auspices of the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Worcester, Ma. To be considered for the award, a plant had to be: 1) a woody tree, shrub, vine, or groundcover, 2) hardy within 2 of the 4 USDA Hardiness Zones in New England (3-6), 3) a season-extender, with priority given to notable winter features, 4) readily available in the nursery industry, and 5) selected for performance in New England.
Some of the highlights of the UVM Hort Farm’s Cary Garden which was opened in fall of 2000 are:
- Three different deciduous magnolias whose flowers – white, pink, and yellow – can be seen blooming together in the spring.
- Seven Son Monkey tree (Heptacodium micoioides) which has clusters of white flowers in the fall and interesting peeling bark.
- Chinese Witchhazel Pallida (Hamamelis mollis ‘Pallida’) with fragrant, yellow strap-like flowers on bare branches in early spring.
- Weeping Alaskan Cedar (Cupressus nukatensis) – a medium-large pyramidal shaped evergreen with weeping branches and distinctive exfoliating bark
- Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum) – a small ornamental tree with distinctive exfoliating bark and bronze fall foliage.
Over the years, plantings around the front and north side of the Blasberg Building have become included in descriptions of the Cary Garden. The first of these plantings began as early as 1962 and include primarily dwarf conifers as well as some notable landscaping shrubs and small trees. Some of the highlights include:
- Dwarf sawara falsecypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Plumosa Nana’)
- Siberian carpet cypress (Microbiota decussata) a low growing evergreen shrub from Siberia which is quite hardy.
- Red sprite winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite) covered with distinctive red berries in the winter.
- Verdant Hills boxwood (Buxus x ‘Verdant Hills’) located at the north entrance to the Blasberg.
Some of the future plans for the Cary Garden include updating and replacing signs, eliminating invasives, creating a plant map, and posting an updated plant list on-line.
