BLOOMINGTON - Architects of a $5.2 million garden say construction won't hinder visitors to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival.

"We're actually looking at it as a way to invite people to see what's going on," said John Poole, the festival's general manager and an Illinois State University theater professor.

The garden is part of Ewing Cultural Center, at the corner of Towanda Avenue and Emerson Street. The festival is held at the Theater at Ewing.

"Come out and have a picnic and walk around, whether or not you're coming to the show," added Poole.

In its 30th season, the festival lineup is "Much Ado About Nothing," "Henry V," and "Love's Labour's Lost." Shows run from June 27 to Aug. 12.

The theater won't be affected by work on the six-acre garden project, nor will the courtyard, where crowds watch pre-performance shows. The picnic area has been moved to the southwest lawn near Towanda Avenue.

Construction crews leave each afternoon, before festival-goers arrive, he said.

Genevieve Green Gardens was created from the trust of Bruce Green, who named the venture in memory of his wife, an ISU alumna. Until their deaths, the Greens lived near Ewing.

The first of the themed gardens should be ready by December, said Rebecca Landau, executive director of the ISU Foundation-owned Ewing Cultural Center. She expects the already popular spot for weddings and other receptions to gain even more attention once the gardens are growing.

This week, contractors lifted limestone blocks and shaped each into stones for pillars on an arched pathway. It's part of the Gardens' signature compass garden, on the front lawn of Emerson Avenue.

"We knew we wanted to do that one first," Landau said. Among plantings designated for that spot are roses, viola, delphiniium, hydrangeas and boxwoods.

Prochnow Landscaping is one of three companies working with general contractor Felmley Dickerson, and its tasks include clay paving for the compass design. "It's done in light and dark colors, and is very impressive," owner Jerry Prochnow said.

Felmley built the outdoor theater in 2000. Landau worked closely with ISU facilties director Chuck Scott and ISU grounds superintendent Mike O'Grady for two years to design the gardens' details.

Scott said they compared plans with several small midwestern botanical garden settings, researched quarries to find the right stone, and more. Landau even tracked down famed landscape architect Jens Jensen's original 1920s garden designs for then-home owner Hazle Buck Ewing.

Bruce Green also was involved with planning prior to his 2004 death, said Landau.

"He wanted roses for sure. He and his wife loved roses," said O'Grady.

An avid gardener, Green wasn't going to simply sit back and hope it worked out, said Scott.

"He even wanted to test the pH-levels in the soil here" to ensure the longevity and success of the garden, Scott said.

Eventually, plants will grow in a formal garden, woodland wildflower garden, white garden, shade garden, and rock garden. Plans also call to expand the grounds' existing Japanese garden.

Behind the manor, workers re-erected concrete fence posts, created by Davis Ewing, and situated them throughout the landscape as art.

Ewing, a concrete product manufacturer, found great success with the posts, which he called 100-year fence posts. Each was used to string barbed wire, and was guaranteed to last 100 years, according to Greg Koos, McLean County Museum of History executive director. So, far they've lasted 80, he added.

A new walkway from the courtyard to the outdoor theater replaces a steep, aging walkway. The wider red-brick walkway will connect with a loop that eventually will surround the entire grounds.

The first section stretches across the northern edge of the property. "You get a magnificent vantage point of the back side of the manor," said Poole.

GO!

What: Sneak peek of Genevieve Green Gardens project.

When: During the Illinois Shakespeare Festival (June 27 through Aug. 12). Grounds open about 6 each evening. Those without play tickets also welcome.

Where: Corner of Towanda Avenue and Emerson Street, Bloomington. Gardens surround property and can be accessed by a winding brick walkway.

Info: For Shakespeare festival, call (309) 438-2535 or visit www.thefestival.org. About Ewing Manor Cultural Center, call (309) 829-6333 or visit www.ewingmanor.ilstu.edu.

Genevieve Green Gardens

Historic donation: The $5.2 million trust is the largest individual gift in Illinois State University's history. About half covers design and construction costs. The rest will fund upkeep. Bloomington resident Bruce Green, who died in 2004, donated the money and helped draft preliminary plans. He named the gardens in honor of his late wife, Genevieve Carlock Green, an ISU graduate who died in 1995.

Ewing Cultural Center: The gardens are being developed on the grounds of Ewing Cultural Center in Bloomington, an ISU Foundation-owned site at the corner of Emerson Street and Towanda Avenue in Bloomington. The grounds are home to Ewing Manor, and the Theatre at Ewing, which hosts the annual Illinois Shakespeare Festival.

On the job: Felmley Dickerson Co. of Bloomington is general contractor, and works with Prochnow Landscaping of Bloomington, J.J. Braker and Sons Construction of Morton, and Hohulon of Goodfield on the project.

Timeline: Announced in May 2006. Work is ongoing; completion of the first phase expected in December.

Variety of plantings: Designed by STS Consultants of Peoria, the gardens will cover about six acres with a variety of themes. The first to be planted is the compass garden; others in the plan are a woodland wildflower garden, a shade garden, a water garden and expansion of the existing Japanese garden.

Community classroom: The series of gardens will be in a public-access setting of Ewing Manor, and ISU horticulture students will gain an outdoor classroom, providing valuable hands-on experience tending the gardens.

SOURCES: Illinois State University media relations; Pantagraph archives; Compiled by Michele Steinbacher