More about the garden

Hardscape

The Winter, Flower and Herb Gardens form a strong formal axis, with three local millstones set in an alignment that runs though the three gardens. The center courtyard is large enough for classes to meet, and the stone mass serves as a heat sink on sunny winter days.

Garden Care

As the trees grow and provide more shade, opportunities arise for planting grasses, ferns, hellebores, broad-leaved evergreens, and other perennials. Winter burn is a problem for some conifers. Since the younger stems of shrubby plants like dogwoods have the brightest color, coppicing, or cutting plants back close to the ground, is done annually.

Garden History

The winter garden idea originated in 1998 when Peter Marks, Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, visited the winter garden at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, and came back enthused. This garden—the first installed at Cornell Botanic Gardens in 2000