East Tennessee State University

Arboretum Newsletter

Volume II, Issue 1
Spring 2003

New Grant Funding

Harris Fund for Washington County, East Tennessee Fountation: A grant of $4,000 was awarded to the Arboretum to develop a demonstration garden with the theme of "Trees for Tomorrow in Upper East Tennessee." The funds will be used to purchase exciting trees whose combined flowering periods span the growing season, new conifers for effective year-round screens, and attractive trees for use under power lines. Outreach to the public will be facilitated by a brochure and an audio CD describing the trees selected for display. In addition, a speaker series will highlight novel plant introductions. The theme garden will be located in the high traffic/high visibility area along State of Franklin Road between Southwest Avenue and the MiniDome. Campus horticulturalist Kathleen Moore is developing a landscape plan for the site with plantings to take place in the spring and fall 2003.

Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust: The Arboretum received its full request of $18,300. The grant will fund acquisition of plants for several theme plantings. The most ambitious will feature eastern Asia-eastern North America "sister species" — that is, closely related trees and shrubs, one from each continent. The theme was chosen to demonstrate the similarities of the floras of these two regions of the world. The Asian-American theme has already begun with the recent planting of Asian counterparts to some of our most interesting local species, including the Chinese tulip poplar and tupelo gum, Japanese silverbell, and Asian sweet shrub. Other theme plantings will feature a magnolia collection, buckeyes and horsechestnuts, dogwoods, and members of the styrax family. A self-guiding brochure, audio CD, and seminar speaker will help provide interpretation. In addition, during the summer of 2003, the Arboretum will sponsor a two-day workshop for teachers.

New Plants and Theme Gardens

•A shipment of 30 plants, all of Asian origin and most representing recent introductions to the United States, was received from the National Arboretum in October. These plants will be placed in a propagation area until large enough to move to a display location.

•Arboretum staff visited Yadkin Valley Nursery for the purpose of purchasing dwarf conifers for the soon-to-be-established Veterans Memorial Dwarf Conifer Garden. The new garden will be located in front of Brooks Gym to replace the Trial Garden, which was discontinued by UT-K. Kathleen Moore is designing a landscape plan to complement the new ETSU Veterans Memorial. Thirty-four dwarf conifers were acquired with financial assistance from the Meadow View Garden Club and the ETSU Veterans Association. The garden will include planting beds with drip irrigation, topographic relief, and rocks to highlight the varied shapes, colors, and textures of the conifers.

Services Available from the ETSU Arboretum

Walking Tour Brochures: Noteworthy Trees of the ETSU Arboretum and Coniferous Trees of the ETSU Arboretum —contact us for free copies for you or your group.

Guided Tours: Arboretum representatives are available for free guided tours for educational groups. Contact Dr. Tim McDowell (phone: 423-439-8635; email: mcdowelt@etsu.edu) to arrange times.

In the works: Our web site should be up and running by the end of January; a map of the ETSU Arboretum, listing and locating 180+ tree species, will be completed in February; a new brochure will show off our giant trees on the ETSU campus; and an audio walking tour for the visually impaired will soon be available.

Upcoming Activities

Thursday, February 20, 2003
7:00 PM, Forum Room (third floor), Culp Center, ETSU—Seminar: “New Plant Intro-ductions from Asia,” pre-sented by Mr. Brian Upchurch, Highland Valley Nursery, Fletcher, N.C. This seminar will complement the Arbor-etum’s efforts to feature eastern Asian “sister species” and the shipment of Asian origin plants from the National Arboretum.

Friday, March 14, 2003
1:00 PM, Borchuck Plaza in front of Sherrod Library, ETSU—Arbor Day Celebra-tion Tree Give-away (4 species this year!), plus arboretum tours and unveiling of new certification kiosk. Last year’s giveaway was a huge success. Join us and get your free trees.

Saturday, March 15, 2003
10:00 AM, Room 212, Brown Hall, ETSU—Tree Pruning Seminar and Workshop, presented by Dr. Bruce Fraedrich, Bartlett Tree Services, Raleigh, N.C. Lecture first then demonstration on the ETSU grounds. Dress appropriately for the March weather.

Meet Our Speakers

Brian Upchurch
Brian Upchurch was the 1998 recipient of the North Carolina Association of Nurserymen Rising Star Award and he is the 2003 President-Elect of the Association. Since 1993, Brian has owned and operated Highland Creek Nursery in Fletcher, N.C. The wholesale nursery, which specializes in rare and unusual woody ornamentals, has recently added an emphasis on specialty conifers. As part of his program to propagate and introduce exciting new woody plants to horticulture, Brian has traveled extensively to gardens, nurseries, and arboreta in North America, Europe, and Japan. Brian’s talk and slide presentation will highlight some of the new plants he has introduced, and he will explain their uses in modern landscapes.

Bruce R. Fraedrich
Bruce R. Fraedrich, Ph.D., is a plant pathologist with the F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Company. He is the Vice-President for Research at Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories in Charlotte, N.C. He directs programs in shade tree disease management and arboriculture with an emphasis on pruning, hazardous tree evaluation, and tree management plans. Dr. Fraedrich will first present a seminar on approaches and methods of pruning that will be followed by a pruning demonstration on the ETSU grounds.

Arboretum Interns:
The Driving Force Behind New Initiatives

Ms. Susan Antkiewicz: Susan coordinates a host of Arboretum activities, including newsletter mailings, organization for trips and seminar speakers, signing trees, record keeping for the mailing list, and spreading general good humor.

Marci and Mark Dunaway: The Dunaways helped develop a soon-to-be-released audio walking tour of coniferous trees. The audio tour is designed to help individuals with visual impairment learn to identify coniferous trees using non-visual cues based primarily on the touch and smell senses.

Ms. Nancy Fischman: Nancy is the electronic technology guru. She has been designing the new Arboretum web site as well as layout for newsletters and brochures. Look for the web site at http://www.etsu.edu/arboretum, to be launched soon.

Join Us!

To join the Friends of the ETSU Arboretum and receive further mailings, click here.

Tax exempt donations are appreciated and can be sent to:

ETSU Arboretum
East Tennessee State University
Department of Biological Sciences
Box 70703
Johnson City TN 37614-1710