Sister Mary Grace Burns Arboretum
The Sister Mary Grace Burns Arboretum, on the campus of Georgian Court University, in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, United States, was once the landscaped park for the winter home of George Jay Gould, millionaire son of railroad tycoon Jay Gould.
In 1896, architect Bruce Price was hired to transform the land into the replica of a Georgian country house. Since the sandy soils of the New Jersey Pine Barrens were not suitable for cultivating exotic plants, 5,000 cartloads of fine loam were brought to Georgian Court from neighboring Monmouth County. Bruce Price designed three of the four major gardens: the Italian Garden, the Sunken Garden, and the Formal Garden. Takeo Shiota designed the Japanese Garden.
Today's arboretum, established in 1989, is named after Sister Mary Grace Burns, former professor of biology, and comprises the entire campus of 62 ha. In addition to many exotic species, the arboretum features a good collection of native plants of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Most notable are the very large and old oaks and Pitch Pines.
The Formal Garden is an elliptical flower garden ringed with American Holly, Eastern White Pine, Norway Spruce, Sawara Cypress, Manitoba Maple, Copper Beech, Common Horse-chestnut, and White Ash, as well as rose mullein, white daisies, primroses, black-eyed susans, daylilies, purple veronica, balloon flowers, verbena, asters, chrysanthemums, and an assortment of annuals.
Founders' Grove includes Franklinia, Dawn Redwood, Japanese White Pine, Weeping Norway Spruce, Pagoda Tree, Serbian Spruce, and Sourwood. Trees added in subsequent years include American Sycamore, Common Hackberry, Common Persimmon, Osage-orange, and Green Ash.
The Italian Garden features a Fountain of Apollo, a wrought iron eagle statue purchased from the Paris Exposition of 1900, life-size statues of Greek gods and goddesses, floral urns mounted on marble pedestals, and two semi-circular pergolas with Tuscan columns, marble benches and statuary. Most trees are conifers, and include Blue Pine, Eastern White Pine, Pitch Pine, Shortleaf Pine, Blue Spruce, Eastern Arborvitae, Chinese Arborvitae, Eastern Juniper, Chinese Juniper, Eastern Hemlock, Hinoki Cypress and Sawara Cypress, Mediterranean Cypress, and Stone Pine.
The Japanese Garden contains a stately Koyamaki on the island in the center of the garden, Japanese Yew, Japanese Cherry, Hinoki Cypress, Japanese Maple, and Weeping Higan Cherry, as well as irises, Rhododendron, and Laburnum.
The Sunken Garden, with lagoon connecting it to Lake Carasaljo, features a 17th-century marble fountain from southern France, a double marble staircase flanked by lions, and carved marble benches which are copies of the benches in the Vatican Garden. The lagoon connects to Lake Carasaljo under a bridge also designed by Bruce Price, restored in 1999. The Sunken Garden features azaleas, Sawara Cypress, myrtle, and Eastern Redbud.
