The Reading Public Museum was founded in 1904 to provide a cultural center for fine arts and sciences. The Museum and Arboretum have and continue to be an educational and recreational focal point for the public and local schools.
The facility, grounds and collections provide a dynamic three-dimensional laboratory and a source of relaxation.
In 1927, prominent Cambridge, Massachusetts-based town planner John Nolen issued a plan for the Wyomissing Development Company (a real estate partnership of Ferdinand Thun and Irvin Impink) that included a generalized plan for the Museum’s Arboretum, as well as a detailed plan for the residential, so-called Wyomissing Park.
Nolen did some landscape advising for the Museum, and Elmer A. Muhs was identified in 1924 as the Arboretum’s landscape architect.
A great number of specimens were generously donated by Bertrand Farr from his superb botanical collection of trees, shrubs and flowering plants, gathered from all over the world. The plantings were carefully located throughout the park and eventually the Arboretum was named an accredited station for the United States Bureau of Plant Industry.
Many of the 65 distinctive specimens on the map of the park today are from the original planting. The trees which are labeled show both scientific and common names.
Large exotic trees are interspersed with indigenous trees and shrubs, serving as an exterior laboratory for anyone wishing to observe the natural world.
The Wyomissing Creek, which flows through the Arboretum and Park, is one of Berks County’s most visited places.
Seasonal changes in the 25 landscaped acres invite leisurely walks along the many pathways or silent contemplation on foot bridges that crisscross the creek.
During springtime in the Arboretum, flowers of all sizes and colors burst forth as sunlight and rains increase air and soil temperatures. Bulbs, herbaceous and ground plants catch the year’s early sunlight to produce their flowers and seeds. Spring breezes assist in fertilization of the early flowering trees and shrubs whose fruit matures through autumn.
MORE..go to.. http://www.readingpublicmuseum.org/arboretum/index.php
