Daily Pioneer News

A picturesque water garden now adorns the south side entrance to the Pioneer Student Center on the UW-Platteville campus. A precursor to extensive gardens that will be featured near the greenhouse on Southwest Road, crews completed work on this new water garden in early July.

PLATTEVILLE - Visitors to the Pioneer Student Center on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville campus will be treated to a new site as they enter the building from the south side. Work there is now complete on a new water garden.

The garden, which features water spouting down a gradual four foot six inch drop into a large pool on the south end, is the product of a collaborative effort between facilities management and the UWP horticulture program. The project has been in the works for about a year, when buildings and grounds crew officials tabbed the site outside the student center's south doors for an ornamental plant site. Keeping in mind the school colors, university officials suggested planting blue and orange flowers.

"It originally started out as a project to put some color on the south side of the building," said Jim Valaskey, director, facilities management.

But it quickly became a much larger project from there. Facilities management officials asked horticulture professor Michael Compton for his input, and he realized few flowers of those colors could grow in the soil type surrounding the student center. He suggested a water garden, and grounds crew personnel were enthusiastic about the idea.

Officials from facilities management developed blueprints for the water garden, and UWP horticulture student Bill Borchardt, senior, Green Bay, drew up his own design under Compton's guidance.

"We worked with the grounds crew over the last year. They designed it. We looked at it and helped them modify the designs," Compton said. "They put it in. What's out there now is a hybrid between Bill's design and what the grounds crew designed."

"Mike Compton and the students that he has this year are exceptional," said Mike Udelhofen, superintendent of buildings and grounds. Udelhofen takes care of all flower and plant arrangements on campus along with Tom Cullen, chief groundskeeper. They plant some 3,000 plant bulbs every fall. Many university officials are proud of the many beautiful floral beds and plant sites that adorn UWP's grounds.

"An important piece of recruiting students to this campus is the quality of the campus environment, how warm, friendly, well-designed and well-maintained the campus is," Chancellor David Markee said. "If you look around the campus, the little flower gardens are a reflection of that, and those additions have been going on for many, many years."

Not only did the water garden project allow for cooperation between facilities management and the horticulture program, but it also prompted collaboration between students and professionals. Borchardt got input from landscape architects at The Bruce Co., Middleton, and some aspects of the site, such as a retaining wall on the north side, are the product of Bruce Co. collaboration.

The water garden is surely a boon to the ornamental horticulture program, and Compton believes it'll provide great opportunities for his horticulture classes.

"I'll be introducing a segment of water gardens and rain gardens," Compton said. "I'll use it as an example, have students observe it and talk about how it's put together. For us, from an educational aspect, it'll be a great asset. I also think it'll be a beneficial aspect for people visiting campus."

The idea to place some blue and orange flowers at the site hasn't been lost either. While several plants surround the water garden site, across the sidewalk hundreds of blue floss flowers and orange marigolds have been planted. More perennial flowers and even some colorful shrubs will be added as the summer continues.

"We're hoping by the fall it will be finished," Compton said.

Meanwhile, a larger Pioneer Gardens project is underway. The gardens, which will be located near the Pioneer Greenhouse adjacent to Southwest Rd., will feature woodland, rose, rain and butterfly garden areas. Work on the infrastructure for the Pioneer Gardens began in mid-July.