Klehm Interpretive Tour

2.  Fountain Garden, Peony Garden, & Nancy Olson Children’s Garden – Klehm’s Fountain Garden hosts many celebrations, concerts, and weddings each season. Children and adults alike enjoy cooling off in the fountains. The Peony Garden features over 70 varieties of peonies donated by the Klehm family.  Further on, turn left, walk across the bridge over the koi pond to the Nancy Olson Children’s Garden. Explore this garden designed for a child’s view. Check out the maze from the tower. Return to this point after you have visited the garden.

4.  Greek Fir – This large Greek Fir grows naturally in Greece and is the only one of its kind at Klehm. Note the double leader, or “co-dominant” trunk. Beyond post 4 is a grass garden in the triangle. Follow the path to the left, past the pre-historic garden, to post 5 in the west loop. (Check the map if necessary.)

6.  Larches - Originally a nursery row but left undug, here is a luxuriance of European Larches. The larch is a conifer – it bears cones – but is also deciduous in that it drops needles in the fall.

 

8.  Firs – Firs in our collection include Rocky Mountain Fir, Balsam Fir, and many others. Firs do not tolerate air pollution and generally are not suited to city planting. The cones on a fir tree have two interesting characteristics: they stand upright like a candle and they rapidly disintegrate – you rarely find cones under a fir tree. Also firs have flat needles that do not easily roll between your fingers.

1.  Example of a Transplant Hole – At this post you can see an old transplant hole left over from when Klehm was a nursery. A large tree spade would have encircled the tree with four pointed blades that would be hydraulically forced into the soil. The blades form the soil ball needed for proper transport elsewhere.

 

12. Take a Walk Down the Old Hedgerow Trail – From post 12, you might take a walk of around 83 feet down the Old Hedgerow Trail to see an interesting tree with interesting bark. It is an Amur Corktree. Notice the soft cork-like bark that distinguishes this tree.

14.  Arborvitae in a Row – “Arborvitae” is Latin for “tree of life”, and indeed it saved the lives of early explorers. They were advised by Native Americans to make a tea from the leaves, which would cure their illness. We now know they were suffering from scurvy and became well by drinking vitamin C which is produced by the tree.

16.  Basswoods – As you pass this area you will notice several kinds of Basswood or Linden trees. Native Americans used the tough stringy inner bark for rope and weaving, and woodworkers prize the soft wood for carving. Honeybees love basswood trees for their nectar. Across the path look for several Amur Maple trees. These trees are spectacular in the fall when their leaves turn hues of crimson and orange.

18.  American Chestnut - The American Chestnut tree once comprised a quarter of the eastern hardwood forest from Maine to Georgia and west to the Ohio River Valley, providing a valuable economic resource in both timber and nuts, as well as an abundant food source for wildlife. An accidentally imported Asiatic chestnut blight decimated approximately four billion trees with devastating results to Appalachian communities and economies. There is a great effort under way to restore the American Chestnut tree to the forests of eastern North America by breeding genetically diverse blight-resistant trees.

20.  Pin Oak and Northern Red Oak – On your right is a Pin Oak that has characteristic drooping lower branches. On your left is a Northern Red Oak. Red Oaks can be distinguished from White Oaks by the pointed lobes on their leaves. White Oaks have rounded lobes on their leaves.

22.  Beech Collection – European Beech trees have differing growth forms and leaf colors. The tree immediately in front of you is an upright form ‘Fastigata’. Look for many other beech cultivars such as the Weeping Purple Beech, ‘Purple Fountain’, the tricolor ‘Roseomarginata’ and an upright purple form named ‘Dawyck Purple’.