More About the Garden

Garden Care

New eastern white pines, western white pines, and limber pines are being planted to serve as a future overstory, replacing the white pines currently being lost to storms and pest problems.

Garden History

The knoll is named for John and Anna Comstock, who owned this land in the early part of the 20th century. John was a Cornell professor of entomology. Anna, one of Cornell’s first women professors, founded and headed the former Department of Nature Study, and wrote the Handbook of Nature Study. Beginning around 1912, forestry students planted red and white pines here. In 1985 nearly 20 mature white pines atop the knoll were lost in a storm; Cornell Botanic Gardens then re-designed the garden, adding new paths and access points. Almost everything, other than the pines and rhododendrons, was planted afterwards.

The rhododendron collection is named for Cornell horticulturalist Clement Gray Bowers BS '23, MS '25, an expert in rhododendron classification, selection, and hybridization.