Friends of the JC Raulston Arboretum
Newsletter
Vol. 7, No. 1
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Director's Letter
Dedication Elation
By Bob Lyons, Director
I always scratch out an outline of the possible topics I'd like to address in this letter, pare it down about 50%, then find out I still have way too much to talk about! However, no matter what list I come up with, the lead story this time has to be the dedication of the Ruby C. McSwain Education Center. Planning for this event began over a year ago. I recall our early conversations regarding the actual date for the ceremonies; remembering at that time that we were due to move into the Center in spring 2002, and early spring at that! Well, wiser voices on the committee prevailed, such wisdom the result of having had the experience of building a house most likely, and we set our date for September 20 & 21, 2002. It seemed so far away when we set those dates, but did they ever creep up on us! We were still finishing up details from the construction punch list just a week before the Dedication.....I guess that's the way these things are meant to be. I don't know anyone who ever completes construction ahead of time. Even now, we're still completing several odds and ends, but few that are really very visible to our visitors.
I want to compliment the Dedication Planning Committee members on the quality of their work, especially considering all of its intricacies. By all accounts, and I do mean all, both days were enormously successful. Friday evening's crowd enjoyed a first look at the Center, which also included a special remembrance tribute to J. C. Raulston through a collection of assembled possessions and artifacts....thanks, Tracy Traer and Roy Dicks, for your help. Friday night attendees were also treated to one of the most fitting of talks for the occasion, presented by Dave Creech, Ph.D., Director of the Mast Arboretum at the Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. As I mentioned to Dave following his visit, he hit the mark with his unique views and just the right dose of history, humor, respect, and irreverence......perfect! The barbecue, hosted by the North Carolina Association of Nurserymen, was a huge, huge, huge hit........kudos to Chef Skip Warrick! It was truly a highlight the next day to extend our appreciation to our donors who made the day possible at all, thanks to their contributions to our building fund. With NCSU Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and Dean James Oblinger leading the ceremonies, we were particularly pleased to publicly honor Ruby McSwain (the Center's namesake) for her philanthropic gesture of donating the largest gift towards the Center's completion: $1.2 million! I had a blast at each of the ribbon-cutting photo-ops and even ad-libbed my way through the short "computer difficulty" delay in our movie which documented the construction period. The weekend provided so much to remember.
Now that the new Center is in place, here are a few items worth noting. The gift shop is now open through a special partnership with the NCSU Bookstores. Our gift shop has limited hours of operation for the winter months (please call (919) 515-3132 for hours) and is staffed primarily with our own volunteers. Frankie Fanelli has done a marvelous job of coordinating this effort and a truly unique volunteer opportunity has been opened via this partnership. The gift shop will not be selling plants, so please continue to frequent your favorite garden center.
The new parking lot has an automatic gate for added security. If you ever find yourself inside after it closes, simply drive up slowly and wait for the gate to open upon sensing your vehicle. If you happen to be one of our many "pedestrian visitors," there's a gate directly behind the gift shop which will let you out. We anticipate that this and other special measures included in the new Center will increase the security and safety of our staff, students, and visitors. A campus "blue light" is also prominently placed within the JCRA boundaries for rapid alert and response to emergencies.
We turn an excited eye towards our new grounds......the rooftop, the old parking lot, the new West, and all the areas associated with the new Center. As I've mentioned to many others personally, look for our progress to be deliberate and calculated. We view our new-found open space as a gift to be developed over time, and we have begun in earnest already. All I ask for now is your patience during the process and understanding for the occasional temporary detour throughout the JCRA.
If you get my periodic comments via the JCRA Lyons' Den, then you will no doubt know about the serious ice storm that hit the Raleigh area in December......we were not bypassed. The damage toll was extensive, forcing us to close the Arboretum to visitors for almost a week as we cleared the debris from the grounds, freed loose and dangling branches from trees, and did some very delicate pruning at heights only an acrobat could manage. The JCRA staff, combined with the staff from the Horticultural Field Lab, performed miracles during the process. We often elected to retain certain trees where others may recommend their removal, but we're very curious to see what the "comeback" potential may be following almost catastrophic-like damage. We were also delighted to have the help of the Bartlett Tree professionals and their high-reaching bucket truck! In every sense of the phrase, they were sent from heaven, except I think they never really made it to earth, just to the tree tops where they seemed to be very comfortable! Perhaps the most significant and poignant loss was the huge white oak along Beryl Road near the brick house. Its massive limbs split apart almost symmetrically, coming to rest in the shape of a huge spider criss-crossing the grounds. We are still clearing away some of the more massive limb sections and are waiting upon FEMA conclusions to repair the chain link fence boundary border.
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I am delighted to extend a special welcome to a new staff member at the JCRA.....Jon Roethling. Jon is a recent graduate of the NCSU Horticultural Science Department and has worked for us previously as a volunteer and student assistant. Through the generosity and, I think, foresight of several members of the nursery industry (see Todd's article in this newsletter), we were able to create this special, one-year position to assist with establishing our state-wide plant evaluation network. Jon will also be of special assistance to Assistant Director Todd Lasseigne in the area of plant collections management. Please welcome Jon when you see him. He is a great guy and we are lucky to have him with us! In the same breath, I must also bid farewell to one of the JCRA's most valuable staff members. At the start of 2003, Mitzi Hole decided to leave the JCRA as its steadfast research technician to pursue her interests in the private sector. She will be working with her good friend Kathy Lindsey of Lindsey Landscapes in all facets of the design, installation, and maintenance arena. Kathy's gain is the JCRA's major loss. Throughout her six year tenure here, Mitzi juggled more jobs than thought possible by the best of us; she mastered horticulture and the equipment to cultivate it; her knowledge of our plant locations was flawless, and she became intricately aware of the often circuitous maze of utilities on site. She was invaluable during the preparation of the "West" prior to construction, as she worked with her assistants to propagate and/or move literally hundreds of specimens before the impending earth movers came in to dig the foundation. She was one of the most instrumental people to facilitate the efforts of our volunteer curators and she held this place together immediately following J. C. Raulston's death. She will be sorely missed but she won't be far away, and she has already offered to come by in a volunteer capacity......we all thank you, Mitzi, and wish you the very best in your new career. As for her position, it is frozen like all positions these days, but we have already asked for its release....we need it badly! In the meantime, we will all fall in to pick up the slack, primarily Anne Calta, who has done a marvelous job of anticipating the most urgent needs in Mitzi's absence.
On a personal note, I'd like to use my forum here to extend my own heartfelt thanks to all of you who helped me get through my encounter with an on-coming car as a pedestrian back in October. Who actually gets hit by cars these days while walking across crosswalks? I guess some of us do! Doctors said I got off pretty easy with only four broken ribs; I don't doubt them, but "easy" is not the word I would have chosen......ouch! Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers, cards, and food. My advice, watch the corner of Hillsborough and Brooks, and don't believe it when you are supposed to have the right of way!
Here's to a spring and summer with rain...see you around the JCRA!
Director's Letter | Staff Notes | Horticulture | Development | Volunteering
Formatted into HTML
by Christopher
Todd Glenn
Programs & Education Coordinator
JC Raulston Arboretum
Department of Horticultural Science
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7609
© The JC Raulston Arboretum, March 2003