Eastern Nebraska Arboretum Tours Offer Variety
            What do a college campus, a park, hospital care facility and Natural Resources District lake have in common?  They’re all part of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum created to serve the communities they’re located in—public gardens designed for active use, sustainability and beauty. 
            Free public tours of arboretums in eastern Nebraska will take place October 6 and 7 at community arboretums in Blair and Pender, Wayne State College campus, Maskenthine lake near Stanton and Gilman Park in Pierce.

  • Maskenthine Arboretum near Stanton is a recreation lake with a diverse collection of trees, conifers and shrubs, particularly viburnums. An impressive trial garden showcases hardy perennials and trees started from small seedlings—now mature trees with healthy root systems.
  • Wayne State College Arboretum is a beautiful campus with an interesting collection of trees and landscapes, including a nice selection of firs, spruces and pines.
  • Gilman Park Arboretum in Pierce is one of the best botanical gardens in the state.  It has an amazing 300 different varieties of trees and shrubs and a great collection of perennials and grasses, even after portions of the garden withstood six days underwater in the 2010 flood. Curator Gary Zimmer has worked hard and gotten a lot of community support to help make  Gilman Park one of the most beautiful public gardens in the state.
  • At Pender, every area of the landscape has different priorities, design and maintenance—according to the varying ages and abilities of those using it.  The area surrounding the ball field is tough and low-maintenance; school landscapes are designed for use as outdoor classrooms; and the hospital and care facility were designed for beauty and restoration. Historic light posts increase nighttime usage and safety throughout the town. American elms once comprised most of the community trees.  Ever since then, Pender has been careful to focus on diversity, community usage and thoughtful, long-term design.
  • Steyer Park in Blair reflects the efforts of arboretum enthusiasts like Ralph Steyer. It has some unusual trees, a very narrow sugar maple, State Champion shumard oak and many others. Depending on time, the tour may end at Black Elk Park.

Thursday, October 6
Maskenthine Arboretum near Stanton, tour starts 10:00 at parking lot east of lake
Wayne State College Arboretum, tour starts 1:30, Parking Lot 6 on east side of campus
Gilman Park Arboretum in Pierce, tour starts 5:00 at arboretum entrance
Friday, October 7
Pender Community Arboretum, tour starts 9:30 at Pender Hospital, 603 Earl Street
Blair Community Arboretum, tour starts 1:30 at Steyer Park

 

2011 Awards Winners Midland

Midland University Heritage Arboretum received the Affiliate Excellence Award, an award given annually by Nebraska Statewide Arboretum to an accredited arboretum that demonstrates excellence in collection development, maintenance practice and community engagement. 
            Before the ravages of Dutch elm disease in the mid-1960s, Midland University was forested with many elm trees.  In its wake, the disease left the campus nearly bare.  But in the mid-1980s, a significant landscape improvement effort was begun with design and funding assistance from the Nebraska Community Landscape Improvement program (coordinated by NSA).  More than 150 trees and shrubs were planted at Midland University between 1988 and 1989.  The plantings were designed to prevent the past problems of monoculture and to provide educational and aesthetic benefits.
            The growth and commitment has continued and Midland’s campus now includes a wide variety of oak, maple, Kentucky coffeetree, hackberry and linden trees as well as ginkgo, pine, fir, redbud, river birch, tuliptrees and many viburnums and other shrubs.  A prairie demonstration was established to provide research opportunities for undergraduate students, increase public awareness of prairie vegetation and to provide a study area for use by classes in science and Great Plains studies.  Trees, shrubs, plants and sculptures provide a setting of rest, reflection and research for the college as well as for the entire Fremont community. 
            Now retired but still acting as curator of the arboretum, Dr. Gary Carlson has been the curator since 1995. He has recruited an active and enthusiastic crew of volunteers from both the campus and community. In April 2008, Midland University dedicated Carlson Grove in the Heritage Arboretum in Gary’s honor. This award and others recognize both the Midland University Heritage Arboretum and its visionary leaders and supporters.

HastingsMembers of the Highland Park Arboretum Committee received the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum’s Volunteer Award for their efforts at Highland Park, an affiliate site of the statewide arboretum network.
            Members of the committee include: Ron Seymour, Jo Seiler, Don Siffring, Will Locke, Becky Matticks, Catherine Renschler, Eric Christensen, Terry Brown, Franc E. Wagner, John Anderson, Kathy Nehls, Wauneta Nitzel, Phyllis Salyards, Steve Cogley, Ken Franzen, Linda Waldron, and Jane Marie.
            According to nominators, “the committee has spent countless hours planning, meeting, planting trees, watering, weeding, mulching, mapping, hosting special events, and writing grants since they began meeting in 2008.”  Their efforts have produced a beautiful arboretum that was designated a Landscape Steward Site by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum in 2010.
The committee has planted nearly 300 trees in the arboretum in this brief period. They were instrumental in establishing a rain garden and other theme gardens in Highland Park.  With the help of the staff of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, the committee has developed a master plan for the Highland Park Arboretum which the group has utilized to secure grant funds for the expansion of the arboretum. The committee also has provided the park with signage and additional water sources and there are future plans for an informational kiosk, a gazebo and a walking path.
The Highland Park Arboretum Committee is well-known in the community.  They started a Legacy Tree Program and are working on developing donor programs for benches, pathway bricks and companion plants.  They have hosted community tree plantings and a “Tour the Trees” program to get the community involved in the project.
With three accredited arboretums in the community—Highland Park, Central Community College-Hastings and Hastings College Arboretum—Hastings is well on its way to becoming a destination for anyone in search of beautiful public gardens.

FallerTodd Faller of Faller Landscape received the “Jim Kluck Honor Award” given by Nebraska Statewide Arboretum annually to an individual or organization that has made a significant contribution to the statewide or local arboretums.
                Faller’s interest in horticulture follows that of his father and grandmother.  He opened Faller Landscape in 1989, which soon outgrew the location and was moved north of York in April 2000.   The main building on the new location is designed after the barn on his grandfather’s place in South Dakota.  Since then, Faller has expanded his business to open Prairie Gold Nursery, a tree nursery dedicated to the production of high quality, potted liner material.  Faller works tirelessly to introduce new and hardy trees into Nebraska landscapes and graciously hosts a variety of groups and organizations at his nursery. 
According to award nominators, Faller’s generosity with his time, talents and treasures is exemplified by dedicated service to statewide efforts like the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum and Nebraska Nursery and Landscape Association and locally to the York Chamber of Commerce, Tree Board and Immanuel Lutheran Church. 
Nominators said Faller’s “encouragement, inspiration and generosity embody the true spirit of this award given in memory of Jim Kluck, a generous and well-loved nurseryman from Schuyler who worked throughout the state to beautify landscapes with well-designed landscape designs and hardy, ornamental plant materials.”

Brian LarsenBrian Larsen received the 2011-2012 Graduate Student Research Award
               Larsen’s research will target the efficacy of root-pruning grow bags on native Nebraska landscape trees to develop higher quality root systems on commonly planted trees in the state.
Larsen has been working with Bob Henrickson since fall 2010. Henrickson said, “This award couldn’t have gone to a better recipient. Brian is bright, hard-working and has had a huge impact here at NSA, both in the greenhouse and in creating the new online sales capacity on the arboretum website. And the research he plans to pursue will be helpful to nurseries all around the state.”
Larsen is pursuing a Ph.D. in Horticulture. He hopes to open a nursery and propagate liners of woody plants to wholesale and retail nurseries.