Greener pastures:
Hurricane-damaged Gifford Arboretum on the mend

he University of Miami’s Gifford Arboretum, nearly destroyed by a series of hurricanes last year, will soon be back in full bloom now that a Washington, D.C.-based agency has provided it with funding that will not only help restore the garden’s diverse plant life but also enhance its educational value.

The arboretum received two grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Museums for America Lifelong Learning Award will help the arboretum redesign and reestablish beds, walkways, and exhibits; develop interpretive signage and hands-on educational programs; and publish a new plant checklist that will include maps and a guide to the exhibits.

A Conservation Support Award will help the arboretum conduct a detailed survey of its living specimens, as well as support a training workshop that will use results of the survey to improve hurricane preparedness and response.

Together, the grants total more than $60,000 and have been matched by the University and donors.

A research and teaching tool on the Coral Gables campus for almost 60 years, the Gifford Arboretum was severely damaged in 2005 when hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma wreaked havoc on its living collections, killing almost 50 percent of its plant life.

Uprooted were rare specimens such as the shaving brush tree, the Panama canoe tree, the African baobab, and the Central American mahogany. Also destroyed: the rainbow eucalyptus, the Mexican alvaradoa, and one of the oldest copper pod trees in Miami.

“These are trees we see every day of our lives. They’re similar to fine art and rare books. They are also living creatures that tell the stories of their evolution and ecological past. So when one is destroyed, it’s a real loss,” says Carol Horvitz, professor of biology and director of the arboretum, who has been supervising the garden’s regrowth efforts since late last year.

Those efforts began in earnest immediately after Hurricane Katrina, when UM biology students scoured the grounds of the plant haven, collecting seeds and fruits from uprooted plant life and taking them back to the lab for a delicate germination process.

Replacing the arboretum’s plant life will not be easy because many of its rare trees and plants were acquired from around the world at different times over the last 50 years, according to Horvitz.

Germination procedures are helping to replace some of the plant life. So, too, are donations of rare trees and plants from neighboring South Florida gardens. Fairchild Tropical Garden, Montgomery Botanical Center, and The Kampong will all donate plants from their nurseries, but despite such efforts, “we probably won’t get a species by species replacement for every single tree,” Horvitz says.

Located on the northwest corner of the Coral Gables campus near Robbia Avenue and San Amaro Drive, the arboretum was planted in 1947 by UM botany professors Frank J. Rimoldi and Roy Woodbury. In 1949 it was named after the late John C. Gifford, the first graduate forester in the United States, an expert on tropical woods, and a UM professor of tropical forestry.

Students, faculty members, and the community use the arboretum for research, teaching, and recreation. It hosts public lectures on botanical topics, and the community is invited to an annual picnic and plant sale every December.

“It’s a living laboratory, an incredible resource that other universities just don’t have,” Horvitz says.