Bennett Arboretum: Past, Present, and Future of Michigan's Oldest Public Arboretum

Abstract

Abstract Established in 1934, Bennett Arboretum is the state of Michigan’s oldest public arboretum. The Arboretum is located in western Wayne County and is managed by the Wayne County Department of Parks. The arboretum has experienced a decline in management activities since the middle of the 20th century and is hardly recognizable today. My goal for this project was to improve the image of the Arboretum in the context of this historical area of Metropolitan Detroit. In order to understand the intentions of the Bennett Arboretum’s founder J.M. Bennett, I conducted a historical review of Wayne County Michigan’s early evolution and I focus on the early 20th century. This time period is significant because of the development of the automobile industry in the area and the direct influence that this industry had on the development of the park system. I then conducted a historical review of arboreta throughout the world tracing the origins of this style of planting to the Arboretum Trsteno, in Croatia. I then followed the development of arboreta as it moved to a symbol of national pride. I then looked at two highly successful arboreta in the United States: The Arnold Arboretum and the University of Wisconsin - Madison - Arboretum. These two arboreta represent distinctly different arboreta that have evolved over time. In the summer of 2004 I surveyed Bennett Arboretum to determine what proportion of trees have survived since its establishment and evaluated each tree’s condition. Of the nearly 470 trees originally planted, 103 trees remained from the original collection. The results of the survey formed the basis for a Master Plan for the Arboretum in 2005, created by myself and my peers in a Landscape Architecture Studio at the University of Michigan. The development of the Master plan created a mission statement which shifted the focus of the Arboretum to an ecosystem based approach for plant collection. I selected two significant areas of the Master Plan that required merging the historic collection with this new ecosystem approach. I created a planting plan for the Ornamental and Maple Collections. These two plans create a framework that blends the different collection styles to create a seamless flow throughout and help strengthen Bennett Arboretum’s visual image.