Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest is a

nature preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

near

Valparaiso, Indiana Valparaiso ( ), colloquially Valpo, is a city and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 34,151 at the 2020 census. History The site of present-day Valparaiso was included in the purchase of land from the ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The preserve has the largest collection of oak trees in Indiana and an award winning

garden railway A garden railroad or garden railway is a model railway system set up outdoors in a garden. While G is the most popular scale for garden railroads, 16 mm scale has a dedicated and growing following especially in the UK. Model locomotives in ...

History

In 1990, Damien Gabis, and a group of other environmentally concerned citizens, purchased 72 acres of land in order to preserve the

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

land of the region. They built a house on the property and Gabis and others lived onsite. Eventually, the property expanded to 360 acres and in 1998 Gabis founded what was originally known as Taltree Arboretum. The original site had only 15 trees on site. Over time, Gabis and his colleagues planted 20,000 trees. In December 2017 the Gabis family announced that

Purdue University Northwest Purdue University Northwest (PNW) is a public university with two campuses in Northwest Indiana, one in Hammond and another in Westville. It is part of the Purdue University system and offers more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree p ...

would assume operation of the arboretum, with the name change and management effective January 31, 2018. Gabis has a performance stage called The Sidetrack which features educational lectures and musical performances. In 2011, Gabis was named one of ten arboreta in the United States that "may well leave you speechless" by

MSN MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

. In 2014, the preserve hosted its first OAKtoberfest, a one-day

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

festival that showcased beer and

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

aged in

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

barrels and paired with food.

Arboretum and gardens

The total land for the

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

and gardens is 360 acres. The property includes a prairie,

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

, and plant collections and display gardens. The arboretum has

trees and an exhibit of oak trees from around the world. It is the largest collection of oak trees in Indiana. The display gardens include viburnums,

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

and

Japanese maple ''Acer palmatum'', commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Japanese: ''irohamomiji'', , or ''momiji'', (栴), is a species of woody plant native to Japan, Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russia. ...

s. Native plants found in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

are on display in the Joseph E. Meyer Memorial Pavilion Garden and in the Native Plant Garden. Roses and flowering trees are on display in the Audrey and Leonard Hitz Family Rose Garden. There is a

onsite, which comprises a 2.5 acre

G scale Large scale or G scale (, G gauge) is a track gauge for model railways which is often used for outdoor garden railways because of its size and durability. G scale trains use a fixed track gauge of to accommodate a range of rail transport m ...

model railroad intertwined with plants. First installed in 2011, there are eight different railroads, totaling 3,000 feet of track, within the garden and up to nine different

diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...

s which tell the story of

Railroads in the United States Rail transportation in the United States consists primarily of freight shipments, with a well integrated network of standard gauge private freight railroads extending into Canada and Mexico. Passenger service is mainly mass transit and commute ...

. The garden railway has over 500 plants varietals and 850 tons of limestone. The garden has a 14-foot elevation change and over 3,500 plants. Visitors are able to view the installation of the railroad each spring by Gabis staff.

Management

The preserve is operated by volunteers and maintained with private donations.

References

External links

*
"Garden Railroading: How The Pros Do It–Taltree Arboretum"
from Lets Talk Trains Internet Radio {{coord, 41, 26, 56, N, 87, 09, 12, W, source:kolossus-eswiki, display=title Arboreta in Indiana

Botanical gardens in Indiana {{Commons category, Botanical gardens in Indiana Indiana Botanical gardens A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word '' ...

Northwest Indiana Valparaiso, Indiana Protected areas of Porter County, Indiana

History

Arboretum and gardens

Management

See also

References

External links