Nichols Arboretum - Other Collections

Other Collections

• Centennial Shrub Collection - popular ornamental shrubs and small trees including crab apple trees, hawthorn trees, a lilac collection, and spiraea.
• Dow Prairie and adjacent woods (36 acres, 14 hectares) - restored to pre-European settlement. Plants include Andropogon gerardii, Asclepias tuberosa, Aster oolentangiensis, Aster laevis, Carex bicknellii, Ratibida pinnata, Rudbeckia hirta, Schizachyrium scoparium, Silphium terebinthinaceum, Solidago rigida, Solidago speciosa, Sorghastrum nutans, Vernonia missurica, and Veronicastrum virginicum.
• Gateway Garden - an entry garden based on American meadows, with pools and a dry creek.
• Heathdale - ericaceous and Appalachian Plants, including Catawba and Rosebay rhododendrons (Rhododendron catawbiense and R. maximum), azaleas (Rhododendron spp.), dog-hobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana), mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), as well as hemlock (Tsuga canadensis, T. caroliniana, and T. sieboldii), dogwoods (Cornus spp.), witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), and sassafras (Sassafras albidum). Some date from plant collecting expeditions in the 1920s; others have been added in the past decade.
• Rhododendrons - hybrid azaleas and rhododendrons hardy in Ann Arbor.
• Oak Openings - a collection begun in 2001 and in its early stages. It will represent plants once common to oak openings (also called oak savannas) in the Ann Arbor area.
• Peony Garden - 234 peony cultivars in 27 beds, with plantings dating from 1927.