Friends of the Arboretum Newsletter
Fall 2006 – Volume 10, Number 2
Arboretum Updates
Student Interns – Working and Learning
By Nancy Doubrava, Interpretive Specialist
Summertime was hot and busy for the student interns at the JC Raulston Arboretum this year. In June, we welcomed four student interns, each full of energy, enthusiasm, and smiles. The Arboretum had no shortage of new learning experiences and projects waiting to be done over the summer. Rotating through different projects over 12 weeks, the interns worked and learned side-by-side with the permanent horticultural staff, supervised by Tim Alderton, research technician. As Tim commented, "We have been able to accomplish so much that we could not do without the help of the interns. They have all been eager to learn about the plants, the equipment, and the general running of the Arboretum. They have all been so great to work with!"
Each summer for the past four years, the Student Internship Program has helped to support the educational mission of the Arboretum. We thank them for the many improvements and maintenance tasks they completed this summer. A few of these include:
- Prepare planting bed for the new geophyte collection located at the east end the rooftop area
- Tree and shrub removal in preparation of the Southwestern Garden renovation
- General garden maintenance of mulching, weeding, mowing, and watering
- Plant propagation and production for FOA Annual Plant Distribution and Connoisseur Plants programs
- Sod installation
Anthony Beck, North Carolina Commercial Flower Growers' Association intern, is a senior majoring in agricultural business management and minoring in horticultural science at NC State. Anthony will be graduating in fall 2006. He has served as a teaching assistant in a business law class at NC State.
James Garzoni was the Arboretum's Raleigh Garden Club intern and is a senior in the Department of Horticultural Science at NC State. He has lived in the student apartment at the campus greenhouse and assists with greenhouse duties for the department. James was a member of the NC State track team, and his home town is Indian Trail, North Carolina. His long-term goal is to own his own greenhouse business.
Corley Hughes, North Carolina Association of Nurserymen intern, is a senior in horticultural science at NC State, with an emphasis in landscape design. She has balanced her educational pursuits with marriage and raising her young son. Corley will be graduating this fall semester and has a particular interest in horticulture therapy and working with special needs children.
Ben Pick was awarded the Bobby Wilder and Alan MacIntrye Internship. He is a senior in horticultural science at NC State, with an emphasis in landscape design. Raised in Asheville, he attended Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College before coming to NC State. Ben has worked in various landscaping and nursery jobs throughout high school and college.
Thank You Alan MacIntyre Interested in sponsoring a 2007 student intern? Contact Denny Werner at (919) 513-7006 or Autumn Keck at (919) 513-3826. Annual Internship Endowed Internship |
Joslin Garden Update
By Judy Morgan-Davis, Interpretive Assistant
Early this year, Denny asked me if I would be interested in taking on a new project on behalf of the Arboretum. He hoped that I would help with gathering information about Bill and Mary Coker Joslin and the wonderful garden that they have given to NC State. I happily agreed to work with this couple and to begin cataloging the horticultural riches of their garden.
My first action was to conduct a series of informal interviews with Bill and Mary. They shared many stories and anecdotes of their lives and times in this special garden. A few interesting tidbits from our conversations follow:
- The Joslins purchased their property in 1950 from Claudia Jones Hurt. Daffodils planted by Claudia bloom in the garden still.
- The property has changed size and shape over the years as the Joslins purchased additional land to impede development in their neighborhood.
- Bill earned his law degree at Columbia University and was a clerk for the Supreme Court.
- Mary has a doctorate in French and published two books on medieval French manuscripts, as well as a biography of her uncle, the botanist William Chambers Coker.
- The Joslins envision that their garden will be a horticultural resource for NC State and the community for years to come.
For more information about the Joslins and their garden, ask for a brochure when you visit the Arboretum or view it on the Arboretum's Web site at <www.ncsu.edu/jcraulstonarboretum/publications/brochures/brochures.html>.
In addition to talking with the Joslins, I have had the pleasure of spending each Tuesday morning exploring their garden. I walk the paths, identifying and recording each plant that is blooming (or performing in some other way) that week. During these rambles, I have compiled over one thousand photographs of plants and spaces in the garden. By the end of this year, we expect these images to be available for viewing on the Arboretum's Web site. I am grateful to Richard Olsen, Ph.D., who visited the garden in May and confirmed the identification of many woody plants. Engraved labels will mark these plants in the near future.
Special thanks, too, to Lou Bryant, Anne Clapp, and Tom Bumgarner, members of the Triangle Camellia Society, who helped with identifying camellias in the garden. Some of these specimens are over 50 years old, planted by Mary's mother, May Roper Coker. May was an avid gardener and the co-founder with her husband, David R. Coker, of Kalmia Gardens in Hartsville, South Carolina.
Finally, we thank the volunteers and JCRA staff who helped with the Open Day in April. Despite the dramatic thunderstorm, Mary estimates that over 100 people visited the garden that day. Brave visitors were treated to the fleeting beauty of deciduous azaleas (Rhododendron species), as well as the playful surprise of native trilliums (Trillium cuneatum) in the woodland gardens.
I am looking forward to observing this garden across the next six months of the year, watching its seasonal changes, and learning more of its secrets. What a treasure we have been given!
Please be sure to visit this fall when the Joslin Garden is open to the public through the Garden Conservancy's Open Days on September 23 and 24, 2006.
Project SEE – Supported Employment Experience
By Nancy Doubrava, Interpretive Specialist
We were pleased to have our horticultural staff grow by three this summer with the addition of two new students, Cassie Cunningham and Robbie Colondres, and their job coach, Doug Morris, thanks to Project SEE (Supported Employment Experience). This five-week summer employment program is sponsored by the Arc of Wake County and is designed for 16- to 21-year-olds with moderate to profound disabilities. Project SEE students work at community businesses and agencies learning new work skills and identifying their vocational interests. Beginning in late June, every day you could find Cassie, Robbie, and Doug hard at work throughout the Arboretum, keeping walkways clean, potting plants, weeding, or watering. A special thank you to Rich Martins, associate director of Project SEE, for working together with Denny Werner, JCRA director, to implement this program at the Arboretum.
Words from the Director | Horticulture | Arboretum Updates | Development | Volunteering
Formatted into HTML by Christopher
Todd Glenn
Programs and Education Coordinator
JC Raulston Arboretum
Department of Horticultural Science
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7522
© The JC Raulston Arboretum, September 2006