Horticulture Zone 6

Zone 6 is made up Bursley Hall, Ford Library, Vera Baits I & II, Bentley Library, Art & Architecture block, School of Music, and the Unversity Hospital Child Care Center.

The team responsible for this area is Ann Wilson, Kim Irby-Grantham and Lonnie Norris.

View a land usage map of this zone.

Gardens to visit…times when they look best:
Rear Gardens at Bentley Library: early to mid May the garden is blooming purple with aliums, iris, redbuds, and lilacs. Earl v. Moore School of Music: Entrance garden is best in June for daylilies, roses, iris, lavender, and various others. Late June into July you can walk to the pond and see iris and waterlilies in full bloom. The front garden is also colorful in late August to September when the japanese anemones and other fall perennials are blooming.

Gerstacker Building: The front garden blooms with salvia, penstemon, and geranium in late May and then evolves into a late season bloom of ornamental grasses, Japanese anemone, and various annuals. There is also a shade garden up the stairs that contain many spring blooming perennials such as columbine and bleeding hearts.

Gerald R. Ford Library: The containers on the rear patio always have an interesting planting of annuals that change every year. Outdoor sculptures: Here's a link to maps, lists, and pictures of the various outdoor sculptures all over the University grounds: http://www.plantext.bf.umich.edu/planner/sculpture/index.html

North Campus Nature Preserve: (a.k.a. North Campus Basin) This is located between the Art & Architecture Building and Gerstacker Building. This contains a series of retention ponds built to hold large levels of storm water and filter it before it enters the North campus Drain which eventually travels to the Huron River. The area has been planted with various native plants from meadow-grassland species to marsh and wetland-type plants.

Architectural Interest: Earl V. Moore School of Music was designed by Eero Saarinem who is considered to be one of the masters of American twentieth century architecture. The view on the east side includes a pond. This side of the building shows an abstract of a grand piano. Imagine the high narrow windows as keys and the pond as the back of a grand piano.

Ongoing Exhibits or Places of Interest:
Earl V. Moore School of Music contains the Sterns Collection which holds over 2500 pieces of historical and contemporary instruments. Included is the C.B. Fisk organ, a.k.a. the Marilyn Mason organ, which was modeled after the instruments of Gottfried Silbermann. For more information, go to http://www-personal.umich.edu/~loiskim/

Gerald R. Ford Library contains archives of US domestic issues, foreign relations, and political affairs during the cold war era. The core material is of the Ford presidential years from 1974-77 (presidential papers and white house staff papers and memos). The library also has changeable exhibits on its main floor. For more information, go to http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/