News Office | illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – It’s one of the hottest days of the summer, but dozens of people are gathered with water bottles, sun hats and gardening tools in front of them. Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. They start early in the morning, before it gets hotter, amid blooms of pink, purple, yellow, orange and white. They clip spent flowers from zinnias and dead leaves from daylilies, weeding and watering.

These volunteers maintain a beautiful appearance for the Galvin Gardens at the entrance to the museum. John Seidel, director of KAM, calls the gardens the museum’s “first and last gallery” because “they not only contain domestic works from the collection, but also because the gardens are a work of art in themselves.”

“All of the gardeners think the way we present plant material in this garden is a living sculpture,” says Gloria Rayner, a master gardener who has worked in the gardens for 13 years and oversees the volunteers.

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The Galvin Gardens, which also contain several Tom Otterness sculptures, were dedicated in 1990 after Rosanne Galvin Noel and Philip Galvin donated funds to the gardens to honor their parents, Hay and Maberry Galvin. Landscape Architecture Professor Emeritus Terry Harkness designed the gardens. Rainer and other volunteers took over the maintenance task to provide regular upkeep.

It was daunting. Weeds have taken over that garden. We removed 198 large trash bags from the garden full of weeds. “It took three years before we really felt like we had control,” Reiner told me as we toured the gardens.

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The gardens contain perennials, but volunteers plant annuals each year to provide continuous color throughout the season. They planted 500 annual plants last spring.

About 20 volunteers tend the gardens, with 12-15 people coming to work every Thursday morning from March through mid-November. Rainer prioritizes tasks that need to be done each week. They clean up the garden in early spring and then “big dig” in mid-May when they plant. They mulch, prune and deadhead plants, cut some plants and remove others that are not thriving. Weeding and watering are ongoing.

“It looks what it does because of the commitment and dedication of the volunteers,” Rainer says.

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In addition to the annuals planted each year, Reiner added more evergreens, plants that maintain their shape over the winter, and more texture and variety in plant material to increase interest in the gardens year-round, Seidel says.

Reiner also says it provided a stunning location for visitors when the museum was closed during the pandemic.

“I really admire Gloria’s tenacity and organization, especially how she organized the group around the mission of providing a meaningful outdoor opportunity during the pandemic as well as the need for community among gardeners,” Seidel says.

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As volunteers work, they talk to each other, enjoying the social element of the work as much as the gardening itself. Three women work next to the museum, removing weeds and dead leaves. Volunteer Debbie Day holds a handful of blue spider plants she pulled from the ground.

“It’s a beautiful blue flower, but it’s invasive,” she says.

Caitlin Talbot is the youngest volunteer in the group.

“It’s like gardening with my mom,” she says, after pointing out a hummingbird darting around the flowers. “I learn a lot every week, and then I’ll come home and do it in my own garden.”

Dai tells her, “Don’t put those pretty blue things in your garden!”

The group stopped to take a photo, but some volunteers were still focused on the gardens. Jane Myers points out the goldfinch on the yellow flowers of the 7-foot-tall prairie dock next to the museum.

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“It’s a native prairie plant. The leaves are very rough and the roots reach 12 to 15 feet deep,” Myers says. “I would like to get compass plants. It’s kind of the same thing. Its roots are very deep, and its flowers point toward the sun.”

Rainer says gardeners are always experimenting and learning new things. She points out that begonias do well in the sun, although the plant usually likes shade. She suggests that these look better than those planted in the shade nearby – perhaps because of the difference in soil quality in that spot.

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Leslie Arvan learns how to grow plants from seeds. I’ve tried sunflowers and snapdragons this year. They work in the sun, cutting off dead flowers from some plants but leaving the dried cone flowers intact because birds like to eat the seeds.

“It’s cheaper than therapy. “It’s very therapeutic,” Arfan tells me about working in the gardens. “I love being outside. I love companionship. Dead title is instant gratification. You get rid of all the dead brown stuff and you’re left with what looks good.

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Mary Beth Koracick agrees that the work is quiet and peaceful.

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“It gives you time to reflect, meaning you’re weeding and it’s routine and repetitive. Then you step back after you’ve weeded or deadheaded and you’ve accomplished something,” she says, taking pride in her work that will make the plants healthier.

Rainer often notices regular visitors coming to the gardens for lunch when the weather is nice.

“That’s the ultimate compliment,” she says.