Liddell Garden recognized for contributions to Houston’s green space

Liddell Garden recognized for contributions to Houston’s green space

BY JENNIFER EVANS
Rice News Staff

Rice University was recently honored for its outstanding contributions to the parks and green spaces in the Houston-Galveston area.

At a ceremony last week, the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) recognized Rice’s Alice Staub Liddell Garden as part of the agency’s ”2007 Best Practices in Parks and Natural Areas Honor Award” program.

COURTESY PHOTO

Located on the northeast corner of campus on the south side of the O’Connor House, the garden is part of the Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum, a teaching and research resource of Rice that spans the Rice campus.

”The arboretum has been a labor of deep devotion by many members and friends of the Rice extended community,” said Kathleen Matthews, dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences and member of the Arboretum Committee. ”The range of projects encompasses the Botany Garden (between the biology and geology buildings), the Wiess Grove on the Main Street side of Wiess College, and an experimental section of the ‘hedge’ along Main Street, among other endeavors.”

Combined efforts of the university, its students and outside supporters produced the 2,500-square-foot Liddell Garden, which features a gate, walkway and four benches. Populating the garden are leatherleaf and lace ferns, Dwarf Ophiopogon, Ligularia Denta, feather palms and large Grecian olive jars containing camellias and English ivy. The centerpiece, an exquisite birdbath of sinuous metal ”branches” supporting nest-like basins for water and seed, was an element noted by the H-GAC as a unique part of a graceful garden in an urban setting, incorporated seamlessly into an existing master plan.

Rice architecture student Sarah Simpson, who graduated a month after the centerpiece’s April 2007 installation, designed the birdbath in a competition held by the arboretum committee.

”I felt it really exciting to have the chance to contribute to Rice’s beautiful campus, something which carries a lot of allure to both new and old students,” Simpson said. ”Walking through the university grounds, particularly in the early morning, can always take my breath away — and to add to its design is an honor.”

The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum Committee, in cooperation with the Grounds Department, developed the garden with the goal of beautifying an area of campus that previously lacked definition. The garden also honors the life of Rice alumna and avid gardner Alice Staub Liddell, whose late father-in-law, renowned architect John Staub, designed  O’Connor House.

The Liddell Garden was among eight outstanding parks and natural areas projects in the Houston area that were recognized by the H-GAC.

Richard Johnson, co-chair of the Lynn R. Lowery Arboretum Committee at Rice and director of sustainability at Rice, accepted the award on Rice’s behalf.

Learn more about the arboretum at http://arboretum.rice.edu.