When Dwain Cromwell opens the great outdoors around his home to this year's Omni Peace Garden Tour, he'll include something extra. In addition to his Japanese maples, hostas, peonies, lilacs, lilies, herbs -- and new this year, a commissioned "Dangling" from noted glass artist Ed Pennebaker -- he will display "about 12 of my turquoise inlaid wood bud vases, in both figured maple and native Ozark cedar," he says.
Cromwell, who grew up in Fort Smith and was well known as director of development for the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas throughout the 1990s, says working with wood came before growing it.
FAQ
Omni Peace
Garden Tour
WHEN — 10 a.m.-3 p.m. May 28
WHERE — Nine gardens around Fayetteville
COST — $15 at any garden
INFO — 935-4422 or OmniCenter.org
FYI
Tour Gardens
A Little Peace of Our Hearts Garden — 1007 S. Morningside Drive with gardeners Ralph Nesson & Kate Conway
Bamboo Peace Garden — 1039 E. Overcrest St. with Moshe & Hamsa Newmark
Garden of Many Memories — 1111 N. Valley View with Jordan Williams
Harmony Garden — 8779 W. Forest Hills Dr. with Calvin Bey
Moon In The Water Peace Garden — 335 E. Baxter Lane with Dwain Cromwell
Peace In My Backyard Garden — 508 N. Sequoyah Dr. with Janet Titus
Storla Memorial Garden & Grounds — Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fayetteville, 901 W. Cleveland St. with John King and UU volunteers
The Gratitude Garden — 885 N. Fritz Dr. with Donna and Kelly Mulhollan
World Peace Wetland Prairie — 1121 S. Duncan Ave., city-owned, neighborhood maintained
"I took woodworking in junior high, and I have loved it ever since," he says, adding there is "a strong community of woodworkers in this area, and we all support each other, sharing our shops and tools to help as needed."
His other hobby dates to about the same time as the UA job.
"I started serious gardening around 1990. It beautifies the home, and it's a great overall peaceful activity," he says. "No worries in a garden."
During the garden tour, visitors will get to see both of Cromwell's passions.
"I will point out the varieties of my maples, and their different leaf patterns and colors," he says. "I will also show my 100-year-old cast iron garden gate that came from a home in Bentonville. And I have a new one-piece solid red oak garden bench chain-sawed by my good friend Dr. Johnnie Adkins from tree that is down in my yard, off to the side.
"It's such a delight to share with others the incredible beauty of these 20 mature Japanese maples and the rock walls and pathways and custom bench," he adds. "I enjoy encouraging individuals to just go plant one Japanese maple and gather the joy from watching it grow over the years."
His one-of-a-kind vases are maple, too, but a different variety, selected from Washington state.
"I look for pieces with natural voids which I can inlay," he explains. "Fellow artist Mark Mcgee recently gave me some harvested Ozark cedar that is a pleasure working with, in a natural finish. [And] I only use turquoise, my favorite color. The wood gives me the design."
Other gardens will have their own unique attractions. Kate Conway and Ralph Nesson offer the chance to play in a treehouse. Visitors can step inside Hamsa and Moshe Newmark's octagonal meditation temple. Calvin Bey will share tips on no-till practices, raised beds, cover crops and biodiversity. Janet Titus will explain her focus on developing a low-maintenance, perennial deer-resistant landscape using native plants whenever possible. Donna and Kelly Mulhollan's garden has grown into a full-fledged rain garden inspired by artist Rita Ward. And the World Peace Wetland Prairie displays a remnant of Northwest Arkansas' once abundant wetland prairie ecosystem.
Scheduled on May 28, "I see the Peace Gardens Tour's timing as opportunity for the effort to shift the framing of Memorial Day weekend toward peace [and] peacekeeping -- away from barbecue, war and barbecue wars," says Lauren Hawkins, Arkansas Master Naturalist and organizer of the Friends of the World Peace Wetland Prairie. "A 'start your Memorial Day weekend with a glorious, peaceful feeling' sort of thing."
NAN What's Up on 05/20/2016