Summer Edition
June 2015
Dubuque Arboretum &
Botanical Gardens is a
non-profit organization
supported by tax-exempt gifts
and contributions. All gardens
are maintained by volunteers.
Every tree, shrub, plant and
seed is gifted from arboretums
and botanical gardens
nurseries, growers and friends
from all over the world.
Mission Statement:
To establish, preserve and
maintain an arboretum and botanical garden to be a source
of information,
education, culture and beauty
for all to know.
No admission fee.
Guided tours are available
on request. Carts are also
available for visitors with
limited walking ability.
Call the Visitors’ Center,
563.556.2100 for
reservations.
Fax: 563.556.2443
Email: [email protected]
dubuquearboretum.net
Garden Hours
1 April-31 October
Daily, 7 a.m. to sunset
Office Hours:
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays
Check out our new website: www.dubuquearboretum.net
Language of Flowers Inspires 2015 Season
Some gardeners talk to their flowers,
but this summer at the DABG the flowers are doing the talking!
The theme for our 2015 display gardens is “Victorian Sentiments: Say It with Flowers,”
reflecting the popular Victorian custom of communicating special meanings through flowers.
To carry out the theme, each of the 16 annual beds next to the Visitor Center displays a
different type of flower. A sign in each bed tells the common and botanical names of the flower
as well as one of its Victorian meanings. The theme was inspired by The Language of Flowers, a
novel by Vanessa Diffenbaugh that the Green Team enjoyed a couple of years ago.
This year’s color scheme is pink, purple, and white, and the flowers on display include our
old reliable begonias, vinca, salvia, snapdragons, zinnias, and marigolds as well as several less
common types: sweet pea, cosmos, heliotrope, nicotiana, a verbena mix, an annual phlox, and
a large-leafed purple coleus.
The two circular arrangements in the entry bed are reminiscent of the old-fashioned Victorian
bouquets called “tussie mussies.” Clusters of purple Victoria salvia are encircled by rows of
pink vinca and edged with lavender ageratum. Instead of the traditional lace doily wrapped
around the outside of a tussie mussie, our entry bouquets have backgrounds of white
begonias.
The lower McKay bed features purple salvia, pink begonias, and a ruffle of ageratum over a
lacy petticoat of white alyssum. In the upper McKay Plaza garden, an ivory-colored pot with
ornate handles (formerly a broken fountain resurrected from one of the sheds) serves as the
centerpiece and features pink geraniums from the DABG collection. Purple salvia, pink vinca,
and white angelonia complete that bed.
The tradition of ascribing meanings to plants goes back to several ancient civilizations but had
its heyday during the Victorian era (1837-1901) when it acquired the name “floriography.”
In those times, when the outright expression of strong emotions was considered unseemly,
a person could indicate his or her feelings by presenting a bouquet of flowers judiciously
continued on page 7
1 November-31 March
Office Hours:
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays
1