Spring 2003

Volume 6 Number 2
A publication of Macon State College

Keeper of the Gardens

The Botanical Gardens at Macon State College have been named for Waddell Barnes, M.D., shown here on campus. Photo by Ken Krakow/Courtesy Macon Magazine

Board of Regents names MSC's Botanical Gardens for Waddell Barnes, M.D.

By Renee Pearman

Gardening had absolutely no appeal to a 10-year-old Waddell Barnes who spent many an afternoon washing the leaves on the Camellia japonica shrubs adorning his family’s property.

“My father grew camellias in his garden and greenhouse at our Vista Circle home in Macon, and when I was a boy, it was my job to clean the scale-infested camellia leaves with Octagon soap,” said Barnes, a retired Macon oncologist now serving his sixth year as chair of the Macon State College Foundation. “I would much rather have been playing football.”

Barnes’ attitude toward gardening did not change until years later when he married Phyllis Noren, whose passion for planting and pruning proved to be contagious. Soon gardening became a family pastime.

In fact, Barnes later earned the “master gardener” designation after completing an intense training program in horticulture offered through the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Georgia. He studied with nationally renowned horticulturist Dr. Michael A. Dirr.

As a master gardener, Barnes provides volunteer leadership and service to his community in the area of gardening, from organizing a garden clinic to spearheading a beautification project, which is exactly what he did at Macon State College.

For Barnes, what started as a curiosity about the unusual diversity of flora planted on the 167-acre campus when it was under construction in 1967 evolved into an intense dedication to help develop full-fledged botanical gardens. With his support and encouragement, a comprehensive master plan for the development of the botanical gardens — actually 16 distinct, themed gardens, such as fragrant, medicinal, fall colors and Southern traditional — began to materialize.

Today, Barnes heads a committee of community volunteers that is building on the original landscaping and planting to develop botanical gardens that encompass the entire Macon State campus. He and the other committee members are carrying out this project in a variety of ways, including donating new plants, soliciting funding and establishing a horticulture resources collection in the Macon State College Library.

Barnes also created an annual lecture series at Macon State that focuses on horticulture, landscaping and environmental issues. The lecture each fall is open to the public and includes the presentation of a Macon State College Botanical Gardens Award.

About the Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens at Macon State College The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia has named the Macon State College Botanical Gardens after Waddell Barnes, M.D., chair of the MSC Foundation Board of Trustees and the driving force behind the development of the gardens. Along with this honor, the Macon State College Foundation is establishing an endowment in his name to support further enhancement and maintenance of the Botanical Gardens and to develop a related educational program. For information on contributing to the Barnes endowment, contact Sue Chipman, Macon State’s director of development, at 471-2732 or schipman@mail.maconstate.edu

Recognizing Barnes’ long-time support of the College — as a consultant for its health-related degree programs, as chair of the MSC Foundation and as the inspiration behind the on-going botanical gardens project — Macon State College President David A. Bell asked the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents to name the gardens after him. Last fall, the Board granted Bell’s request. The official dedication of the Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens will take place this April.

The honor left Barnes speechless. “I was just blown away,” he said. “It never occurred to me that they would name the gardens after me.”

The Macon State College Foundation also has announced that it is establishing an endowment in Barnes’ name.

“These are most fitting and well-deserved tributes for the man who recognized the great potential of our campus and has invested countless hours and personal resources in developing the gardens,” Bell said. “We are eager to establish an endowment to support further enhancement and maintenance of the Waddell Barnes Botanical Gardens and to develop a related educational program. In time, we will fully realize Dr. Barnes’ vision of a ‘College in the Garden,’ and it will be treasured by generations of students to come.”