Editor’s Note: “10 Questions” is part of a weekly series in which a prominent person in the Iowa State and Ames communities is interviewed. To suggest someone to interview, submit an e-mail request to [email protected]. This week’s interview is with Mark Chaplin, director of Reiman Gardens.

What do you do as director of Reiman Gardens?

About 80 percent of my time is spent within the [horticulture] department of 21 faculty and 300 students, and the remaining 20 percent is spent here directing Reiman Gardens.

My overall responsibilities are on horticultural aspects, but my role is more on the general directions and interests of the garden. Here we work with the physical planners and architects in terms of designing and generating ideas or garden development.

Tell me about the new Children’s Garden and how is that progressing.

First of all, you’ve got to look at Reiman Gardens as series of outdoor rooms. … So for instance, the initial garden is the Herb Garden, then we have the Rose Garden, which comes as another room, then there’s the Campanile Garden. Those were all completed in the first phase, circa 1995.

The Children’s Garden, which was started in late 1998, was phase two. It’s completely designed for kids, including a barn, an amphitheater for story telling, a tunnel hideout, tumble mounds and an alphabet garden, where there will be a plant starting with every letter of the alphabet. There are also colorful signs throughout, and a water feature they can play in.

Who proposed the idea of the Children’s Garden initially?

The Children’s Garden and the Town and Country Garden came out of discussions really when the initial garden was proposed. It’s just that we did not have the funds at that point in time to pursue. The master plan was developed by the architect Rodney Robinson.

What different types of flowers and plants does Reiman Gardens feature?

The gardens look deceivingly beautiful to most people. There’s actually a tremendous amount of work that goes into them.

We plant about 35,000 to 40,000 annuals every year. I haven’t counted up how many species there are, but there are hundreds, literally thousands, of species that were planted for the Campanile Garden.

Obviously, as an academic garden, we try to get as many different species of plants that we can grow here. There is probably a lot more diversity here at Reiman Gardens than your typical garden.

How many people go through the gardens each year?

We don’t know exactly, but we estimate 40,000 to 50,000 a year.

How are horticulture and landscape architecture students involved with Reiman Gardens?

The ideas for the Children’s Garden actually came out of a class in landscape architecture. There was a professor that had a design class, and each of the students had a project. I remember they made models that were on display out here of what they thought the Children’s Garden ought to be. The architect then came and visited with the students, where he critiqued their ideas.

From there he pulled ideas from all the projects, so basically, I guess, you could say that the Children’s Garden was really from the college students’ ideas.

Are there any future plans of building paths for rollerblades and bikes around the garden?

We want the garden to be peaceful and respectful so we don’t encourage bicycles. There is a sidewalk that has just been built … along Elwood Drive, and there’s even talk about putting a bike path on Beach Avenue, but we just want to preserve the garden so it lasts a long time.

What special events does Reiman Gardens offer to the students of Iowa State and Ames community?

There are 300 events in a year in this building, 100 organized tours and, of course, people who just come in on buses. The people who come out here vary from student groups, classes, departments and businesses. You can came out here on any given day during the summer and expect to see a crowd of people.

We think that number is going to increase with the expansion of the garden. Within the next three to four years, we’re expecting 100,000. The Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau are saying that this is the No. 1 attraction in Ames.

How many people help with maintenance and upkeep of the gardens?

Well, we have … full-time staff and then between 7 to 10 students, principally horticulture majors, who work on the property. Many of those students are interns, so they’re supervised by a professor. Maintenance is 75 percent of the work, and I’d have to say 25 percent is development.

What is your favorite feature of Reiman Gardens?

I think my favorite feature of Reiman Gardens is yet to be built, which is the Town and Country Garden. I’m looking forward to that the most. That will be a series of nine specialty gardens built around a house-like structure, and a garden that will be a demonstration to the students.