By Ellen Zagory

This past summer was a busy one for nursery staff members Mike Connelly, Joe Gorder and Dennis DeWitt with the expansion of the Arboretum nursery facility near the Rec Hall. The need for more growing area is the result of recent Arboretum collection development and demands by campus for specialty plants for landscape construction. These new projects have also put a strain on available space for the storage of equipment and construction materials.

The expansion triples the overall size of the nursery. Much-needed storage boxes for decomposed granite, gravel and other building materials have been added to the west side of the existing nursery site. Expansion to the north and east has allowed the addition of a potting soil storage and mixing area. The old area for mixing potting soil, which was cramped and difficult, has been replaced by a new area doubled in size. A great relief to tractor and truck operators is added space for equipment maneuvering. Storage of loam and sand will now be more conveniently located right next to the mixing site. In addition, the new area more than doubles the container bed area, makes room for a propagation structure, a stock plant growing area and (we hope someday) a headhouse. 

Site clearing and leveling was accomplished last spring by student workers in conjunction with resurfacing of a portion of the existing growing area. Grading was done by Agriculture Services, drainpipe and an irrigation system were installed by student employees, and water hooked up by Physical Plant. Electricity has been brought within the boundaries of the nursery to allow the use of power equipment and automatic irrigation. 

At this point the growing beds, made of 4" thick pea gravel and Ryerson steel edging, are fully installed. Laying and rolling of the decomposed granite pathways is nearly completed. We anticipate that surfacing of paths and roadway will be completed by the end of winter quarter.