Bella Vista Arboretum To Open At Blowing Springs

A project that has been on the Property Owners Association master plan for years is coming to Bella Vista at no cost to local residents. The Bella Vista Arboretum will become a reality thanks to grants from the Walton Family Foundation.

On March 18, when the city marks Arbor Day with a tree planting in Blowing Springs Park, the POA will celebrate the soft opening of the new arboretum at 1 p.m. The arboretum will be located in the back of Blowing Springs where the 00-mile marker for the Back Forty Trail system is located.

The area has always been maintained by the POA, recreation director Joan Glubczynski says, so additional maintenance costs will be minimal. There's already a concrete path that leads from the end of the Blowing Springs parking lot to the start of the Back Forty Trail. It's a popular place for people to walk and ride bikes, she says, and the area around the concrete path will be the arboretum.

If an extension to the Razorback Greenway is built between Blowing Springs and Metfield Park, it will probably share the concrete path with the arboretum, Glubczynski adds.

Several volunteer groups are helping, according to POA board member Mike Abb. The Bella Vista Bluebird Society has donated bluebird boxes for the area, and the Master Naturalists and the Monarch Society are advising. Carroll Electric is donating its services to remove some unnecessary light poles and run new lines for the signs.

There will be about 25 native trees planted, Abb says, each with a small informational sign. There will also be information kiosks. The marquee signs near the parking lots will be planted in a bed of pollinators, including milkweed for the Monarch butterflies, and the signs will be lighted at night. Several beds of daffodils are planned and some will probably be Bella Vista daffodils like the Garden Club has been planting over the years, Glubczynski says.

-- Lynn Atkins

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NAN What's Up on 03/17/2019