https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Pine-Hollow-Arboretum-in-full-bloom-this-weekend-12941309.php
Pine Hollow Arboretum in full bloom this weekend with big changes coming
Updated 8:37 pm, Thursday, May 24, 2018
BETHLEHEM — Many visitors to Pine Hollow Arboretum in Slingerlands miss the most spectacular flowers because they sprawl across the rolling hills behind the home of its late founder, the beloved pediatrician Dr. John W. Abbuhl, who died in January. His widow, Kay, still lives in the house and the dogs bark when visitors approach.
But Kay Abbuhl wants visitors to open the wrought iron gate to the back yard — and acres of white and magenta azaleas, pink peonies the size of grapefruit, lily pads on a green pond, horse chestnut trees topped with red blossoms and endless purple, blue and gold wildflowers. A green heron with feathers that shimmer like polished jade eats frogs by one of the ponds. Each leaf on the tricolor chestnut tree is pink, white and green.
Pine Hollow Arboretum Director Lauren Axford shows off the “birthplace” of the arboretum, which is often missed by visitors who don’t know they can go beyond the wrought iron fence. Axford was at the Slingerlands, N.Y., public garden on May 23, 2018. (Lynda Edwards / Times Union)
Media: Times Union"Just ignore the barking," Abbuhl said as she greeted visitors.
Abbuhl is donating her home at the end of quiet Pine Hollow Road to the arboretum and the public. She will move into the small house on Maple Avenue — currently the entrance of the arboretum — which now serves as an administrative office for the director and volunteers. Admission to the arboretum will still be free.
"We call this the birthplace of the arboretum because this is where Dr. Abbuhl planned the trees he would plant and the layout of the paths," said arboretum Director Lauren Axford as she stepped through the gate onto a flagstone patio facing a hillside waterfall and man-made pool. "His first love was trees but when he saw the wildflowers, he was inspired."
Multi-colored blooms splashed across the hill as bright as an exploded paintbox. Late blooming snowdrops and a path from the patio wind down a hill and past ponds, forest glades and meadows blanketed with wildflowers. Lily-of-the-valley and jack-in-the-pulpit hide in the shade under an incense tree whose peeling bark exudes a sweet scent. Dr. Abbuhl built a half moon bridge over one pond that he patterned after Claude Monet's in Giverny, France, after the Impressionist painter was rich enough to have a dream house surrounded by flowery fields.
"We have artists who set up their canvases out here in the fields and by the ponds and there are a group of poets meeting up there," Axford says nodding toward the top of the hill. "We want to open the arboretum up for more events this year after we move into the bigger house. And there is a lot of work projects we would love to do if we can get some grants and volunteers."
Her hardworking groundskeeper has pulled up several trashbags full of wild garlic mustard, a edible but invasive plant. And Axford would love anyone who has a use for it to come harvest it so it won't take over an entire pasture. But one of the arboretum's charms is its wildness. And the spring blooms are at their peak for the next two weeks. After that, they will be replaced by whatever Mother Nature chooses for summer.
