Penn State Arboretum’s Pollinator and Bird Garden opens to public

• By Matt DiSanto/WPSU

(State College) — The Arboretum at Penn State opened its long-awaited Pollinator and Bird Garden to the public on Monday following nearly two years of construction.

The 3-acre addition, a decade in the making, increases the Arboretum’s H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens by 60%.

Forest biologist Kim Steiner, the Arboretum’s founding director, retired Wednesday following nearly 50 years at Penn State. He spent his final day at the garden and hopes you will, too.

“You can just stroll through here and enjoy the plants and the features, the ponds, and so on,” Steiner said. “Or you can look closely at what’s going on with the flowers and the bees and the butterflies and so on and really get into it.”

Among the Pollinator and Bird Garden’s new additions are several “bee hotels” that aim to attract pollinators with nesting spots.

Birds should feel at home thanks to the garden’s bird baths, feeders, and nesting boxes. Two dead Table Mountain pine trees were harvested and mounted to serve as perches, too.

The garden boasts more than 140,000 plants scattered throughout its grounds. Shari Edelson, the Arboretum’s director of operations, said more than 620 volunteers helped plant them throughout the spring and summer.

The Pollinator and Bird Garden is located entirely within the Arboretum’s H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens at the corner of East Park Avenue and Bigler Road. Check out this map for the garden’s full layout.

The Arboretum is open from dawn to dusk daily. Visitors don’t need to pay for admission or parking.