History and Design of the Herb Garden

The elegant design of the Robison York State Herb Garden belies its history as a boisterous playground during the decades when Plantations' headquarters building was an elementary school for the neighborhood children of Forest Home. After the school closed in 1964, the idea of an herb garden for Cornell University began to flourish, championed in part by Audrey Harkness O'Connor, who was editor of Cornell Plantations Magazine at the time. Richard M. Lewis, then director of Cornell Plantations, sketched the original design concept on a paper towel! It took ten years, however, to raise the funds, assemble the materials, and construct the garden. In 1974, the herb garden was finally dedicated to the late Doris Burgess Robison, an accomplished gardener, as a gift from her husband, Ellis H. Robison '18. Garden Design magazine recently called this herb garden one of the best in America.

Our herb garden is true to its upstate New York origins. Notice the walls of native stone - some retrieved from the old building foundation under the farmhouse of Ezra Cornell, the university founder. The wrought iron gates date from about 1800. The split rail fences are also typical of this region. At the base of the sundial in the middle of the garden is a round millstone from one of the numerous mills that once lined nearby Fall Creek. See if you can also find the stone stile built into the wall at the southeast corner of the garden and Elfriede Abbe's bronze sculpture of the "Yarb Woman" (a gift of our local herb society, Auraca Herbarists), just outside the garden at the end of the pergola.

Visitors love the Robison York State Herb Garden because of its diversity and its thematic presentations. It is, in essence, a reference collection of living plants that have been important in human culture throughout the ages. Mingled within its beds and borders are plants of the ancient world, plants used by Native Americans, and culinary plants from every corner of the globe. Let your senses explore fragrant herbs, edible flowers, and scented geraniums. Linger on the stone seats for an intimate view of the herbs in the raised beds. Learn more from the labels on every plant.