Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden
Encyclopedia
The Wilbur D. May Center is an attraction located in Rancho San Rafael Regional Park at 1595 North Sierra, Reno, Nevada
. The facility comprises the Wilbur D. May Museum, the Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden and the Great Basin Adventure.
scrimshaws, Egyptian scarab figures, Greek
icons, wildlife diorama
s and a shrunken head
from South America
. Also featured is a recreation of the living room, tack room and big game trophy room from Wilbur's 2600 acres (1,052.2 ha) Double Diamond Ranch.
The museum also displays changing exhibits about various subjects. The "Predators" exhibit will run from March through May 2009, and will feature live animals and hands-on natural history displays about ancient and modern predators. There is an admission fee for the museum, which is operated by the Washoe County Regional Parks and Open Space.
and botanical garden
that is open to the public without charge from sunrise to sunset. The site is located at an elevation of 4600 feet (1,402.1 m) in a transitional zone between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Great Basin Desert
. It receives an average annual precipitation of 7 inches (177.8 mm), daily temperature varies 50 °F (10 °C) or more, and the growing season is less than 100 days.
The garden's primary purpose is to demonstrate gardening in the high desert environment. It includes the following areas:
statues to climb on.
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
. The facility comprises the Wilbur D. May Museum, the Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden and the Great Basin Adventure.
Wilbur D. May Museum
The museum features the antiques and collectibles purchased by Wilbur D. May, a local adventurer, rancher, pilot, philanthropist and world traveler. Born in 1898, Wilbur May was the third son of David May, founder of The May Department Stores Company. The museum's collections derive from his over 40 trips around the world, and include T'ang Dynasty pottery, primitive African artwork, InuitInuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
scrimshaws, Egyptian scarab figures, Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
icons, wildlife diorama
Diorama
The word diorama can either refer to a nineteenth century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum...
s and a shrunken head
Shrunken head
A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes.Headhunting occurred in many regions of the world. But the practice of headshrinking has only ever been recorded in the northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest...
from South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Also featured is a recreation of the living room, tack room and big game trophy room from Wilbur's 2600 acres (1,052.2 ha) Double Diamond Ranch.
The museum also displays changing exhibits about various subjects. The "Predators" exhibit will run from March through May 2009, and will feature live animals and hands-on natural history displays about ancient and modern predators. There is an admission fee for the museum, which is operated by the Washoe County Regional Parks and Open Space.
Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden
The Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden covers 12 acres (4.9 ha) is an arboretumArboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
and botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
that is open to the public without charge from sunrise to sunset. The site is located at an elevation of 4600 feet (1,402.1 m) in a transitional zone between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Great Basin Desert
Great Basin Desert
The Great Basin Desert is an area of nearctic high deserts across parts of Nevada, California, and Utah that extends into the Colorado River watershed , but which is mostly a portion of the central Nevada desert basins of the Great Basin.It along with the Escalante Desert, Mohave Desert, the...
. It receives an average annual precipitation of 7 inches (177.8 mm), daily temperature varies 50 °F (10 °C) or more, and the growing season is less than 100 days.
The garden's primary purpose is to demonstrate gardening in the high desert environment. It includes the following areas:
- Burke Garden - modeled upon an English country garden, with elm trees and perennials in bloom from early May through September, including irisIris (plant)Iris is a genus of 260-300species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species...
, bleeding heart, delphiniumDelphiniumDelphinium is a genus of about 300 species of perennial flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The common name, larkspur, is shared with the closely related genus Consolida...
, foxglove, lupineLupineLupine may be one of several things:*Something that is like, or relating to, a wolf .*A variant spelling for lupin, a flowering plant.*Lu Pine Records, a record label in Detroit.*Lupine Games, a computer game company....
, and campanulaCampanulaCampanula is one of several genera in the family Campanulaceae with the common name bellflower. It takes its name from their bell-shaped flowers—campanula is Latin for "little bell"....
. - Dixie's Plaza Garden - contains perennials and annuals.
- Honey's Garden - contains yellow and white flowering shrubs and roses, with waterfall and pools.
- Songbird Garden - contains aromatic flowers, seeds, and fruits, attracting many native birds.
- Evans Creek flows through the middle of the site. It originates from snowmelt and springs on Peavine MountainPeavine MountainPeavine Mountain is a mountain located in Washoe County Nevada, at the northwest corner of the Truckee Meadows, forming one of the most dominant geographical features in the Reno/Sparks area...
, and flows onward to the Truckee RiverTruckee RiverThe Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...
and then to Pyramid Lake.
Great Basin Adventure
Great Basin Adventure is a seasonal children's attraction that includes a discovery room where crafts and story time are held and dinosaurDinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
statues to climb on.