Garden Expansion & Fence Repair

Allyson Levy & Scott Serrano created an accredited level II arboretum and botanical garden in the Hudson Valley in 2001, called Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.

In 2009 we acquired 8 acres of wooded land across the road from the original 3 acres of gardens that feature what we named the "Property Gardens". We cleared this area and began to plant fruit trees from around the world as well as rare decorative trees. This area is called the “South Garden”, which has evolved over 12 years to include the beginning of a Nut grove, a Hardy Cactus bed, a Chinese Edible & Ornamental Garden, as well as a Magnolia and Viburnum collection.

Because of the threat of a large deer population destroying rare trees and shrubs, we realized that we had to put up fencing around our planted areas to protect all these new plants. It took us two years, but by 2011 we had fenced in 5 acres, with heavy-duty plastic fence material. This heavy-grade fencing was some of the best on the market at the time, and the planting resumed!

Now 12 years later this fencing is nearing the end of its lifespan as per the manufacturer's recommendations. This fencing is now sagging in many areas, rabbits have chewed through it, and trees have fallen on many sections leaving it compromised and vulnerable to animal intrusions. In many instances, it is literally being held up by brambles, Barberry, and Multiflora Rose!

It is time for us to replace this fencing with metal fencing that cannot be chewed by rabbits so that we can continue to protect the pre-existing plantings. We also have an opportunity to include a new garden which will be a collection of pine trees and conifers (called a "Pinetum"), which we have been in the process of making over the past 4 years. This has not been accessible to the public because it lies just beyond the pre-existing fenced-in collection. The new fencing will provide the opportunity to extend the perimeter of the fence past the existing garden, to include this conifer garden, increasing the ‘South Garden’ by another 2 acres.

Please consider making a generous donation to help us reach our goal of securing enough money to complete this timely project and allow us to open the area up to visitors who visit our gardens in the future.

Many folks have chosen to donate to this fundraiser by sending checks directly to Hortus, or going through PayPal. This is great too!

To see where we're at in terms of reaching this goal please visit our website and look for South Garden Fence Repair & Expansion Project under the Support Page.