Greener than ever

The folks at Jenkins Arboretum in Devon have been so "green" for so long, you wonder: Is it in the water?

They use donated garden tools that they dutifully clean and sharpen. They print on both sides of their copy paper, something we've been meaning to do. They bundle errands to save gasoline, also on our to-do list, and in winter, without complaint, they layer up to curb heating costs.

"We've always been frugal," says executive director Harold E. Sweetman, who speaks of this 46-acre woodland sanctuary in personal terms.

Jenkins is patient. For 33 years, staff and volunteers have made do with an office "building" no bigger than a double-wide trailer.

Jenkins is modest. Even boosters describe it as "the best-kept secret on the Main Line."

And now, Jenkins is very happy, indeed. This intimate arboretum, just minutes from the King of Prussia mall, has a new, $2.4 million education center that, with characteristic prudence, subsumes the original building rather than require its demolition. Total area is now 8,000 square feet, which you might think would trigger a shopping spree for new pruners, or a rash of single-sided prints from the copier.

But no. The Jenkins crew is poised to embrace more "green" than ever in the new building, which is named for the late John J. Willaman, botanist, research chemist, and grandfather of longtime arboretum booster John Otto Haas of Radnor.

The new place has solar panels and rainwater collection up on the roof; geothermal heating and air-conditioning; 16-foot windows; local, recycled building materials (used furniture, even); and fun features that Sweetman relishes touting.

You think the front desk is covered with particle board? It's compressed sunflower seed. And keep your wits about you in the restrooms; the toilets are "smart," the urinals waterless. The urinals alone are expected to save 40,000 gallons of water a year - apiece.

The walls are painted in tones of whole wheat, burlap, and shammy. The rug pattern mimics leaves on a forest floor. The roof is shaped like the wings of a gull, and the steel supports mirror the oak trees that surround you.

"The outside is inside, and the inside is outside," Sweetman says. "It's all about the garden."

Jenkins is known for its (mostly) native trees and shrubs, especially rhododendrons and azaleas, as well as laurels, blueberries, ferns, and wildflowers.

This place is also a stunning refutation of two nutty but persistent ideas - that native plants aren't colorful enough to create a beautiful garden and that the color green is boring.

"Green is a wonderful color. Green is a workhorse," Sweetman says, suggesting that, "as gardeners mature and go through life, they realize that a garden does not always have to be in bloom" and that "native plants can have strong ornamental appeal."

Say no more. We love the weirdly riveting lady's slipper, a native orchid, with its bulbous yellow chin and bright green dress, and the phalanx of restfully green, architecturally precise ferns.

But the trees in this woodland are lovely, too: the massive white oak, with its round-tipped leaves; the tulip poplar of atmospheric heights; the leathery magnolia; the wispy pitch pine.

Gardeners don't need to go totally native, Sweetman says, but native plants are a boon to wildlife, especially birds. Jenkins has identified 109 species on its grounds, everything from rummaging towhees and red-tail hawks to green herons, owls, and kingfishers.

Down by the pond, red-winged blackbirds nest in the dried cattails, and tiny painted turtles poke their beaks above water, shells barely submerged. Snow-like flower petals cover the pathways, but the hillsides still hint of azaleas and rhodies in salmon, fuchsia, lavender, and orange.

Once they're spent, the show is far from over. Just check the plant labels. You'll soon realize that this naturalistic garden may not have tulip displays in spring or mum flushes in fall, but in every season, there will be color - whether nuanced white and healing green or, for that matter, shout-out, wake-up purple and red.

With its new education center, Jenkins has more than doubled the space for lectures, workshops, and plant propagation, which likely will boost its annual attendance of about 25,000. It also has a new library, kitchen, employee shower, and outdoor-events plaza, and a gift shop to sell Jenkins' native plants and photo note cards.

All very exciting for Sweetman, who grew up on a farm in Colorado and was primed for a career in cell biology - doctorate from Boston University - when he decided to follow his father into a world he considered more creative, if not more lucrative.

Leonard H. Sweetman, an entomologist who'd also grown small cash crops on the farm, and run a plant nursery, greenhouse, and florist business before taking a job at Scott Arboretum in Swarthmore, was Jenkins' first director. Harold, who still marvels that "I turned into my father," took over in 1986.

He lives on the grounds with his wife, Christine, and daughter, Brenna, in the former home of H. Lawrence and Elisabeth Phillippe Jenkins, the arboretum's original benefactors.

Sweetman figures he'll stay on for an additional 10 years before he and Christine retire to their farm in Nottingham, southern Chester County, where they raise Scottish Highland cattle.

Till then, he never tires of zipping around Jenkins in an electric golf cart, showing visitors every last plant and tree in the joint. He swears this thing can't go more than 15 m.p.h. How come it feels like 80?

Because it's Sweetman in his native habitat. Forget being patient. Toss the modesty. Just be happy.

Jenkins Arboretum, 631 Berwyn Baptist Rd. in Devon, has 1.2 miles of walking paths and is open to the public 365 days a year from 8 a.m. to sunset. Admission is free.

The new John J. Willaman Education Center is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Its design was conceived by Cee Jay Frederick & Associates of West Chester and carried out by Olsen Design Group Architects of Reading.

Jenkins seeks a gold-level certification for the new center. This is the second-highest rating given by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

For information about the arboretum, call 610-647-8870 or go to www.jenkinsarboretum.org.

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