JC Raulston Arboretum e-Update
May 2005
In This Issue
- Long Weekend in Washington, D. C.; Maryland; Delaware; and Pennsylvania
- It's Not Too Late!
- Benefits Providers List
- Students Help Improve Curb Appeal of JCRA While Learning Valuable Lessons in Landscape Construction
- North Carolina State Employees Combined Campaign 2005
- Member News!
- New Development Office for College Advancement
- Coming Attractions – Highlights of May
- May Calendar
Long Weekend in Washington, D. C.; Maryland; Delaware; and Pennsylvania
June
9-12, 2005
It's time to accept Bob Lyons' offer to visit him at Longwood Gardens – just don't tell him we are coming all at once. Choosing the best gardens to visit was difficult since there are so many great ones in the northern Piedmont. In addition to visiting Bob and Longwood Gardens, we've made special plans to visit Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library; the United States National Arboretum, Mt. Cuba Center, Chanticleer Gardens, and Brookside Gardens. Kim Powell, interim director of the JC Raulston Arboretum, will lead the travelers on this exciting trip. Join us on this last-minute journey. Sign up right away...this trip will sell out fast!
Detailed information for this trip is posted on our Web site. – Christopher Todd Glenn, Programs & Education Coordinator
It's Not Too Late!
The JC Raulston Arboretum will hold the 2005 Gala in the Garden on May 1, 2005 (Sunday) beginning at 3:00 PM. The Gala is a lively party and fund raiser attended by hundreds of JCRA members and supporters and held among the beautiful gardens of the Arboretum, the Gala will feature live music, an open bar, delicious hors d'oeuvres, and a silent auction featuring a plethora of unique plants and an eclectic array of many other distinctive items. You'll also have the opportunity to bid on beautiful container gardens, created by JCRA supporters and used as part of the decorations for the Gala. The evening will end with a dessert social and a drawing for the naming rights to one of our Parking Circle Pocket Gardens. Can't make the Gala but would like to participate in the drawing for the naming rights to the Parking Circle Pocket Garden? Call Faye Koonce at (919) 513-7457 or Donna Walker at (919) 513-3826 and we'll sign you up.
Individual admission is $50.00 per person. Invitations have been mailed. Didn't receive yours? There's still time to register. Get in touch with Donna Walker at (919) 513-3826 or <donna_walker@ncsu.edu> to have one sent to you. If you're interested in becoming a Corporate Sponsor for this event, supporting the JCRA and its mission and receiving special corporate benefits, contact Donna or Anne Porter at (919) 513-3463 or <anne_walker@ncsu.edu>. Don't wait – you might miss this great party! – Donna Walker, Development Associate
Our sincere thanks to:
| Diamond
Sponsor Platinum Sponsor Gold Sponsor Silver Sponsors |
Bronze
Sponsors |
Other Special Thanks |
Benefits Providers List
The Benefits Providers List has been updated for 2005. A copy of the brochure will be sent with your receipt when you join or renew your membership. In addition to being posted on our Web site, it's also available at the Ruby C. McSwain Education Center during business hours or by contacting Donna Walker at (919) 513-3826 or <donna_walker@ncsu.edu>. Please visit these businesses and take advantage of the discounts they offer to JCRA members. And be sure to add your thanks to mine when you visit the establishments. – Donna Walker, Development Associate
Students Help Improve Curb Appeal of JCRA While Learning Valuable Lessons in Landscape Construction
While
many academic-led construction courses shy away from actual building for various
reasons (funding, scheduling logistics, time commitment, and unpredictable weather – just to name a few), the Landscape Construction Studio taught within the Department
of Horticultural Science takes these challenges head on for the simple reason
that students benefit significantly from hands-on learning experiences. Pairing
up with the Arboretum is the ideal collaboration for the facilitation of design/build
projects – students are exposed to a variety of building materials and construction
methodologies as are established goals of the course, but the class also helps
out the JCRA by designing and building elements that are needed. In addition,
students value having the opportunity to give something back to the Arboretum – a place that has been a part of their education for the past four years.
Earlier in the spring, Interim Director Kim Powell and I brainstormed about which areas of the Arboretum needed the greatest attention and of those areas, which might be appropriate building projects for the class. The result? As you make your way up the entry walk to the axis of the Perennial Border, you will see a new entry patio made of brick with a centrally-placed concrete and stone mosaic inlay, a new "illusion wall" for the Japanese Garden, and a new wall treatment for one corner of the Lath House (Do those panels look familiar? They are "recycled" from the Zone 8 Greenhouse, where they were deemed too heavy to be of use). Via these projects, students had the opportunity to work with concrete block, mortar, stucco, wood, brick, and concrete. Incorporating the new panels for the Lath House proved to be the trickiest task as nothing about the existing structure was neither square nor level!
The class unanimously feels that the new panels provide a greatly improved aesthetic and better background for the existing plants. The illusion wall provides an interesting, yet subtle, entry/exit to the Japanese Garden (slated to be redesigned in the near future when funds become available), and the entry patio will serve to provide a stopping and welcoming point for visitors that is on axis with the A. E. Finley Foundation Rooftop Terrace, Perennial Border, and the Necessary. – Anne Spafford, Assistant Professor, NC State
North Carolina State Employees Combined Campaign 2005
The JC Raulston Arboretum will once again be included in the North Carolina State Employees Combined Campaign for 2005. This is a great way to make a contribution to the Arboretum and support this very important state-wide campaign. For a 2004 SECC update, please click here.
Many thanks to everyone who supported the JCRA through the 2004 SECC! – Anne Porter, Director of Development
Member News!
On April 24, 2005 (Sunday) Chip Callaway is to be inducted into the Garden Club of America. He is the only North Carolinian ever to be inducted other than J. C. Raulston! You have only to look at the pictures of his work on his Web site to see why GCA picked one of our own! Congratulations, Chip! – Anne Porter, Director of Development
New Development Office for College Advancement
The CALS College Advancement team has moved their offices from Patterson Hall (NCSU Hillsborough Street campus) to the "Eyebeam" building on the corner of Beryl Road and Brickhaven Drive.
We are all very pleased to be the new neighbors of the JC Raulston Arboretum! ....And what a beautiful neighbor it is!
My mailing address and phone number stays the same, (Campus Box 7645, Raleigh, NC 27695, (919) 513-3463), but the new physical address is 512 Brickhaven Drive, Raleigh, NC 27606. Please come by for a visit! – Anne Porter, Director of Development
Coming Attractions – Highlights of May
Spring
flies by so fast! Time to visit the Arboretum to enjoy the last bits of spring
in the South, our local version of a lovely English summer.
This month, watch for flowers of sweet bay and Southern magnolias, mock-orange (Philadelphus), roses, Japanese spirea, and weigela in their full glory throughout the Arboretum. The Perennial Border will explode with color, showcasing clematis, beard-tongue (Penstemon), sage (Salvia), perennial verbenas, and Carolina lupine (Thermopsis villosa). Not to be missed will be the numerous mountain laurel (Kalmia) and hydrangea cultivars in the Lath House, and by the end of the month hostas will be stealing their show.
In late May, it will be time again to appreciate the simple splendor of a rose in the Finley-Nottingham Rose Garden. Yucca flower spikes will be striking in the Perennial Border. Throughout the Arboretum you will also find gardenias, St. John's wort (Hypericum), and hydrangeas in flower.
This show is free. We invite you to visit often. – Nancy Doubrava, Interpretive Specialist
May Calendar
Gala in the Garden – May 1, 2005 (Sunday) – 3:00 PM-7:00 PM – $50.00
Join us for a delightful spring afternoon with cocktails, gourmet hors d'oeuvres, live music, and a silent auction featuring a plethora of unique plants and an eclectic array of many other distinctive items.
Willie York Memorial Friends of the Arboretum Lecture – May 19, 2005 (Thursday) – 7:30 PM – Free for members, $5.00 for non members
"A Collectors View of Mexico – What I Have Learned in 25 Years!" presented by Carl Schoenfeld, Yucca Do Nursery, Hempstead, Texas – A review of what has been learned in 25 years of exploring temperate zones in Mexico. The talk will begin on the scope and significance of the Mexican flora and branch out to emphasize specific plant groups and their associated communities such as pine-oak, woody lilies, bulbs, perennials, and flowering shrubs. Interlaced in these discussion will be comments on the habitat niches that these plants occupy and why.
Meet the JCRA's Curators and Gardeners in Their Gardens – Postponed
This event has been postponed until June 2005.
Please visit the "Calendar of Events" section on the JCRA Web site for a complete listing of our upcoming programs.
JC Raulston Arboretum e-Updates are published electronically every month for everyone interested in the Arboretum. Did you find this edition informative? What information would you like to see in future editions? Send Christopher Todd Glenn your suggestions. To remove yourself from this mailing, please write Christopher Todd Glenn.
© The JC Raulston Arboretum, May 2005