Nov. 8--Jane Henley always surrounded herself with plants at her 20-acre home in the Maxwell area of Newport News.

During the decades she lived there, she experimented with wildflowers, orchids and roses. She discovered bamboo was the devil's doing. She won prizes for her daffodils, and mastered the art of bonsai.

There wasn't anything Jane wouldn't try to grow or couldn't grow.

Today, Henley, 94, resides in a retirement community in Newport News, still loving plants like she always has. Ferns are her favorite plants because they require little care and go with everything, she says.

Over the years, her generous donations to the College of William and Mary enabled the college to develop and expand its own collection of plants. She attended the college in the 1930s.

In recognition of Jane's contributions, there is the Henley Walking Tour of the Campus Plants, a self-guided tour that takes in many of college's 300 types of woody species that also honor John Baldwin Jr., professor of biology 1946-74.

That tour is now revised and called the Campus Tour of Woody Species. It's outlined online at www.wm.edu/as/biology/plant tour/index.php, so the public can see first-hand what the campus offers in the way of historical, unusual and interesting trees and shrubs -- even wildflowers, ferns and garden sculpture.

"There's a duck sculpture Jane gave us in honor of her late husband H. DeShields Henley," says Martin Mathes, an emeritus biology professor at the college, as he guides visitors along the walking tour.

Trees are turning fall colors and the air is crisp. It's a great time to take a leisurely stroll along the college's five miles of paved paths and experience the ancient, the old and the new sites at the historic campus.

The bronze duck Mathes points to is nestled into the two-acre wooded Wildflower Refuge that runs along a natural ravine. Established in 1974, the moist, shady area is home to rare species -- bloodroot and trillium -- that were rescued from construction sites. A small amphitheater at the entrance provides seating for quiet observation and small performances.

"It's a marvelous, marvelous area in the middle of the campus," he says.

Across the winding road, the Crim Dell area is the most photographed -- and romantic -- spot on campus. A four-foot great blue heron statue by Eastern Shore bronze sculptor David Turner is located in the pond; pathways around the Crim Dell bridge are planted with spring-flowering shrubs.