Friends of the JC Raulston Arboretum
Newsletter
Vol. 7, No. 2
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Director's Letter
Awards and Rewards
By Bob Lyons, Director
Funny how this weather works.......throughout last year I was bemoaning the impact of the drought. It was hot. It was dry. It was one of the most challenging growing seasons that I've ever experienced. Now I find myself writing amidst a meteorological polar opposite, lots of rain, and do I mean lots! It is hard to complain; our lakes and reservoirs are back up to maximum levels and the ground moisture is being steadily restored. Maybe we humans find this precipitation pattern uncomfortable, but it is hard to fault rain! We had one of the best of winters and springs for transplanting. We installed a wide selection of woody species in the beds surrounding the Ruby C. McSwain Education Center, the newly planted containers around the Center and on the roof are super this season, our direct seeded "rooftop of color" in the footprint of the eventual Perennial Border extension grew at record speed, and the Annual Plant Trials and Demonstration Area had one of its best post-planting establishments ever, leading to a successful Field Day in July.
The first half of 2003 was a season of awards for the JCRA; awards of national merit and awards to support new efforts. The Garden Writers Association of America (GWAA) recognized us directly and in concert with one of our publication partners. The "25th Anniversary JCRA Newsletter" received the 2003 GWAA Garden Globe Award of Achievement in the "Overall Product-Newsletter" category. Kudos to our own Chris Glenn for his editorial production of this issue. We were also recognized with a Garden Globe Award in the "Brochure" category for our contributions to NC Cooperative Extension's Successful Gardener publication. It won for the cumulative 2002 series of monthly issues. Each month, the JCRA is featured on the front page of Successful Gardener, with "ghost authoring" contributions from JCRA staff writers. We are grateful to Leah Chester-Davis, Successful Gardener's editor, for this partnership with whom we share this notable accolade! These awards are quite significant as there were hundreds of entries at the national level, including major well known publications.
The next national award was of the proposal type, this time coming from American Association of Museums/Institute of Museum and Library Sciences. The $3,000.00 award came from their Museum Assessment Program. With the help of an outside consultant, this award is allowing us to review the ways we reach out to our clientele groups, to provide outside perspectives on our internal literature, brochures, and any other mechanism to present the JCRA to visitors, students, and the industry. It will be great to get these insights from someone outside our boundaries.
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Now onto what I'll call the "good news/bad news" department. In spring of this year, the University's struggling financial picture worsened and had a direct impact on us. We were literally just about to start our interviews for the vacant technician position when all such vacant positions were frozen. This, of course, is a critical position for us, since the technician assists greatly with all facets of Arboretum operations. The position remains frozen. As for the good news, we received word that Harold & Noel Lichtin of Raleigh decided to initiate a summer internship in the name of a family friend, Ben Anderson. This half-time internship was filled by one of our own students, Sara Millar, and she has been a great asset to the JCRA! Additionally, we have a special summer position for another student who works jointly with the JCRA and the Horticultural Field Lab, with particular responsibilities in all areas of seasonal "color" throughout the JCRA. Donna Phillips is an exceptional student for this job and special thanks goes to the North Carolina Commercial Flower Growers Association for contributing to this position's salary. Donna's efforts led to magnificent container gardens and perfectly manicured areas around the McSwain Center. She was ably assisted by the "Monday Evening" gardening volunteers who relished in weeding and deadheading. Please read more about Sara and Donna in our June 2003 and July 2003 e-Updates available on the Arboretum's Web site at <www.ncsu.edu/jcraulstonarboretum>. These and our other summer student assistants, Lee Davis and Judy Morgan-Davis, were key to keeping up with our summer outside, particularly after this rainy one!
Some of our best interactions of the past months were exemplified by the North Carolina Association of Nurserymen (NCAN)/North Carolina Landscape Association (NCLA) Workday, our undergraduate student projects, and new initiatives for our volunteers. The Workday pulled together members of the nursery and landscape industries and our faculty who designed, prepared, donated materials, and installed a much needed landscape project directly in front of the McSwain Center. Be sure to read Nancy Doubrava's account of this project in this issue. The valuable direction of professors Pat Lindsey, Ph.D., and Anne Spafford, M.L.A., led to the design and construction of new vine supports in the Annual Plant Trials and Demonstration Area and the design of the new Contemplation Garden sponsored and design-assisted by Priscilla Swindell. Look for the Contemplation Garden to materialize on the right side of the pedestrian gate from the Beryl Road entry. Finally, several new gardening groups of volunteers swung into action this season....in a short time, their value has already been proven to us; look for Frankie Fanelli's report in this issue.
You can read much more about the 2003 Gala in this newsletter, but now, months later, suffice it to say it was a major success! As I greeted each and every guest through our gates, it was a pleasure to see this event becoming one for everyone; with relaxed and eager faces being the common denominator, our guests enjoyed the day in casual, formal, garden, and unique attire! Yes, the Gala is for everyone who supports the JCRA and we are planning for 2004 already! Many new milestones were achieved in terms of number of guests and silent auction items, brand new event logistics, and volunteer involvement. Donna Walker's leadership was key. Everyone is always interested in "how we did...." and for good reason. The numbers have been sent to all members under separate cover along with the breakdown of the disbursements.
For the past two years, I've standardized the allocations of Gala revenues. We are bound to place $20,000.00 back into our Development support system and they are dollars well spent. Of the remaining $42,000.00, I have directed $10,000.00 towards building our overall Endowment and $32,000.00 towards the support of our general operations, maintenance, and positions needs. The 2003 Gala will go down as one of the best and thanks to everyone who came, helped, and sponsored it!
Our staff has presented papers in the trade show and conference circuit this summer, including the nationally recognized Southern Nursery Association meetings and the Ohio Florist Association which is including much more landscape-oriented emphasis these days. Jon Roethling visited a selection of Pacific Northwest nurseries in August to exchange ideas and plants. And while I'm on the topic of staff, congratulations to Bernadette Clark for receiving an Outstanding Staff Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Bernadette helps manage our annual trials throughout the year and truly does an exemplary job!
On the research front, there have been several projects working in the JCRA background and worthy of mention. Peter Conden is a departmental graduate student and recently published two papers in the Journal of Environmental Horticulture with co-authors Frank Blazich, Ph.D., and Stu Warren, Ph.D. This JCRA-supported research focused on Castanopsis propagation and nitrogen nutrition of Ternstroemia. Jim Moyer, Ph.D., and Liz Parks are using JCRA plant materials to develop new technologies for cultivar identification and monitoring in breeding programs. Finally, our own Paul Fantz, Ph.D., has slowly but surely been taking hundreds of voucher specimens from the JCRA to deposit in NCSU's own herbarium as well as that of the U.S. National Arboretum. Voucher specimens are like botanical standards by which other scientists identify/verify unknown specimens of their own. Thank you, Paul.
I cannot really close without a special note of thanks for your response to our first Annual Fund appeal. Your generosity, over and above your regular membership, has made our financial climate more comfortable and I'd like to express my appreciation on behalf of the entire JCRA staff! I'd like to close my letter by reiterating that any success we enjoy here is a direct result of our staff, members, and our volunteers; our plant collections are in good hands!
Director's Letter | Announcements | 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, September 2003