Maine Day project – a rare plants garden in Murray Hall
Nineteen students, staff, and faculty joined forces on Maine Day to create a Maine Rare Plants Garden in the Murray Hall Courtyard and around the building. This is a joint project of the Biology Club and Horticulture Club, made possible with generous support from the Alton ’38 and Adelaide Hamm Campus Activity Fund and the help and support of UMaine Facilities Management. The group had a great time preparing a tree and shrub bed on the south side of Murray Hall, two perennial beds in front, and a small shade bed in the inner courtyard. They also tidied up the courtyard and the existing pollinator garden, and planted some new seeds in the pollinator garden. The garden will feature plants that are currently extinct, rare, or of special concern in Maine as a way for people to see these plants, which they would probably never encounter in the wild. Plants are being purchased as nursery grown stock from the National Plant Trust and several commercial nurseries. As the garden develops, on-site signage and a web page on the SBE site, which will be published soon, will provide visitors with information about each species.
