Interpretive plaque at Compton Gardens

Last week Lorna and I enjoyed exploring Compton Gardens; a 6-acre native woodland garden in Bentonville. Corrin Troutman (Director of Horticulture) gave us a tour and explained their experience with different trail surfaces. They tried hard to get a gravel trails to work but when someone got stuck in a wheelchair they decided to go with concrete.

As we are visiting different different gardens we are also looking at signage and wayfinding. Do we want to put out identification labels or not? Do we want to have interpretive plaques to explain what you are looking at or just let you experience it? Two of the most beautiful gardens we have ever seen (Bloedel Reserve and Chanticleer) had virtually no signs of any kind.

Compton Gardens is a gem of a garden located right next to the soon to be completed Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas.
www.comptongardens.org