The rhododendrons in Greendale Cemetery have bore colorful witness to the Meadville area’s rich history for well over a century.

And now, the roughly 800 plants that annually splash their bright pigments across the cemetery’s 200 acres at 700 Randolph St. are being recognized as one of the United States’ most significant cultural landscapes.

Greendale’s rhododendron collection was recently designated one of 21 nationwide “Heroes of Horticulture” sites by The Cultural Landscape Foundation based in Washington, D.C. Currently featured on TCLF’s Web site (at www.tclf.org), each of the sites is being showcased in a photographic exhibit opening Friday at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, N.Y.

The list will also be featured in the January edition of Garden Design magazine.

It’s a recognition being celebrated by Jim and Mary Vogan, the nonprofit, publicly-owned cemetery’s full-time caretakers. And, said Mary, “I’m hoping our community itself really celebrates” it as well.

Each year, TCLF publishes its “Landslide” selections, a list of significant landscapes at risk of being lost because of various threats.

“ ‘Landslide’ is one of TCLF’s key ways for highlighting how landscapes are integral to our nation’s cultural identity,” TCLF founder and president Charles A. Birnbaum said in a recent news release. “Each ‘Landslide’ site is irreplaceable. Each is a unique link to the story of who we are.”

Vogan said Greendale’s collection is, like the cemetery itself, at risk of being lost in the future due to ever-decreasing funds available to support it.

The Greendale Association helps maintain the cemetery through capital funds and donations, according to Mary, who said she hopes the new designation will help get the word out that Greendale is indeed worth saving for future generations.

“Living with (the rhododendrons), I think we have always known how spectacular of a display we have,” she said. But “it’s amazing to me the number of people we come into contact with who don’t know we’re here, and what treasures we have.”

Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.

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Greendale Cemetery was recently designated one of 21 nationwide “Heroes of Horticulture” sites by The Cultural Landscape Foundation based in Washington, D.C.