Welcome to the UNL Gardens website!

Malus 'Donald Wyman' fruit
Donald Wyman Crabapple
Maxwell Arboretum

We are dedicated to the proposition that the living horticultural resources of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's East Campus are not only places to enjoy aesthetically, they are an invaluable educational tool, a place to reflect on life; they are an often overlooked jewel in the crown of Lincoln's greenspaces.

UNL Gardens is a joint project of the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and the Friends of Maxwell Arboretum. As such, it will address both the academic department's gardens as well as the arboretum and other East Campus UNL Botanic Garden and Arboretum (UNLBGA) sites. We recieve support from the Senior Vice Chancellor's Office and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Why on earth, you might ask, does the world need another plant website? There are surely enough by now. While it is true that there are plenty of excellent sites where you can access information about plants, we hope ours will present some major differences. First, we are concerned primarily with the specific plants found on East Campus; our information will act as a guide to those visiting campus and a resource for those who cannot. Secondly, we believe in the principal put forth by Elizabeth Lawrence: "Gardening, reading about gardening, and writing about gardening are all one; no one can garden alone" (The Little Bulbs: A Tale of Two Gardens, 1957). You'll find lots of horticultural "read more about it" here, with a special emphasis on historical resources. We aim as well, to link the horticultural world to the greater world of ideas, to literature, philosophy, history, politics, and poetry. If gardening were just about the plants it would be a great thing; the fact that it connects us to an experience of the wider world is what imbues it with meaning and makes it a sustaining force in our lives.

In addition to material on the gardens of East Campus, we will present information on the horticultural history of the campus, published resources on horticulture of the Great Plains from the past 140 years, and links to other great websites to enrich your gardening experience and love of plants.

This website is in its infancy--a seedling. Check back often to see what new information has been posted. My style on this site will be informal, a discussion between friends. So let me know what else you'd like to see, what information you can add.

See you in the gardens,

Emily Levine
Special Projects Research Horticulturist
Department of Agronomy and Horticulture/
UNL Garden Friends/Friends of Maxwell
University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Those of you who have spent much time on this web site are probably aware of my interest in and admiration for the literary naturalist Donald Culross Peattie (1898-1964). Peattie was a Harvard-trained botanist, remembered today--if at all--for his monumental two-volume A Natural History of Trees. If one reads these books, one will learn that Peattie's beauty lies not just in his botany but in his lyrical philosophical prose. Never before or since has a tree handbook contained such magnificent writing.

In a case of the exception proving the rule, the recent republication of A Natural History of Trees (as a travesty of a butchered one-volume work), only shows how completely we have forgotten this once esteemed master of what we now call "nature writing."

"I think we owe the man and his words some time and consideration...to amend for our great error in forgetting him" ("Donald Culross Peattie: A Friend in the Green Dusk," Columbanus Bestrode [see James Joyce, Ulysses]).

One of Peattie's most profound works and perhaps the one that first gained him a reputation is An Almanac for Moderns (1935). This odd little book contains 352 page-length or less writings for each day of the year. Peattie takes us through an entire year, beginning on the vernal equinox--March 21st--and circling all the way around to that same date. Given his profound mind, this book does not simply record the yearly cycle of the natural world, although this he does with sketches of surprising detail and sensitivity. On the contrary: Peattie uses the Almanac to open the whole world to us.

What I propose to do in this space here on the home page, is to print an excerpt from one of the daily essays for every given week. Each week, the previous selection will be moved to an archive page and a new one will be posted. I think it will be worth your time to check in weekly and scroll down to this little feature. Better yet, find yourself a copy of An Almanac for Moderns and read each daily entry.

An Almanac For Moderns quote archive
(click here to read all the excerpts posted here during the year)

An Almanac For Moderns
Donald Culross Peattie

And so we come to the end of this year, having followed Mr. Peattie from breaking spring to breaking spring. I leave you, dear readers, with his final two entries for the year. Visit the Almanac for Moderns quote archive to view all the posted entries from the previous year or, better yet, find yourself a copy of this honest imformative work.

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I try to change the photographs on the main pages with the seasons. Almost all of the pictures on this website are of actual plants on East Campus. Unless otherwise indicated, photographs are copyrighted to Emily Levine. No reproductions in any format are allowed without permission.