Edith J. Carrier Arboretum

The Edith J. Carrier Arboretum is an arboretum and botanical garden on the James Madison University campus, located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA in the Shenandoah Valley. Groundbreaking for the arboretum took place April, 1985, under direction of Dr. Norlyn Bodkin,[1] who is credited the first scientific botanical discovery along the Eastern Seaboard of Virginia since the 1940's, Trillium: Shenandoah Wake Robin, presently found at the arboretum[2]. The only arboretum located on the campus of a Virginia state university. Exhibits include a developed trail system through 125 acres of mature Oak-Hickory Forrest with two identified century specimens and a species on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Threatened Species list protected at the arboretum: Betula uber, Round-Leaf Birch.[3]

Its gardens include:

• Andrew Wood Memorial Garden (1994) - 92 species including lady slippers, Turk's cap lily, Dutchman's breeches, wild ginger, squirrel corn, native azaleas, laurels and rhododendrons.
• April Walk Daffodil Garden (1988) - a variety of daffodils.
• Ballard Memorial Planting (1991) - Ginkgo or Maidenhair Tree, azaleas, rhododendrons, white redbuds, Chinese dogwood and black hall tree.
• Bog Garden (1999) - pitcher plant, sundew, cranberry, Labrador tea, lambkill, and bald cypress.
• Drury Planting (1993) - forest pansy redbud, Chinese dogwood, Carolina silverbell, dolchica spirea, Japanese maple, Cherokee sunset dogwood, and dwarf barberry.
• Fern Valley - on ravine slopes, ferns including New York fern, hay-scented fern, Christmas fern, ostrich fern, and marginal shield fern.
• Glen Dale Azalea Experimental Planting (1996) - hybrid azalea.
• Heath Family Plantings - rhododendrons, azaleas, mountain laurel, Leucothoe, and fetterbush.
• Herb Garden (1996)
• Larkin Smith Rock Garden (1991) - features 7 of 15-plus endemic species to the shale barren: yellow buckwheat, white-haired leather flower, ragwort, spike moss, and hairy lipped ferns, with "near endemic" prickly pear cactus and the shining sumac.
• Mid-Atlantic Azalea Garden (1996)- azalea natives including pinxter flower, flame azalea, rose azalea, plumleaf azalea, and hybrid crosses.
• McDonald Azalea and Rhododendron Garden (1995) - more than 500 individual azaleas and rhododendrons of many varieties.
• Norlyn L. Bodkin Oak Hickory Forest (1998)
• Rose Garden (1999) - over 30 varieties of heirloom rose selections.
• Sinclair Garden (1996)- a variety of shrubs and perennials, including Japanese barberry, kousa dogwood, leyland cypress, cherry laurel and rhododendrons.
• Viette Perennial Garden (1992) - 18 varieties of daylilies and 8 varieties of Siberian iris, hostas, Eupatoriums and ornamental grasses.

See also

• List of botanical gardens in the United States

External links

• The Edith Carrier Arboretum Website
• James Madison University