Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 22, 1995 TAG: 9504240012
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: VIRGINIA B. JORDAN SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
After today, you can take that hike in Nellies Cave Arboretum. The arboretum's two acres have been designed to include all the geological areas of the state, with trees and bushes suited to each terrain.
At dawn today, 44 trees will be standing in their appointed places, waiting for spade-wielding volunteers to plant them.
By 9 a.m. the arboretum will be full of people - 87 came last year - celebrating Earth Day by planting a tree. By the end of the day, its slopes will boast species from bald cypress to sourwood, from sassafras to sweet gum. There's a bonus for the volunteers: a free pine seedling and lunch.
About two years ago, the arboretum was just a gleam in the eyes of Dean Crane, outdoor supervisor for the Blacksburg Parks and Recreation Department. Crane obtained two grants, matched by the town, from America the Beautiful through the Virginia Department of Forestry.
His next step was to draft two experts as consultants. John Peterson and John Groninger, research specialists and instructors in Virginia Tech's Forestry Deparment, walked with him over the land.
They came up with a design that would be best for trees native to Virginia. "Even someone like me would not get excited about just rows and rows of trees," said Groninger, who has a doctorate in forestry from Virginia Tech. "With this plan, you learn about the trees and the land, and how they work together."
Peterson, who received his master's degree in forest biology from Virginia Tech, is at work on a computer woody plant identification program, which will become a teaching aid.
"One thing for sure, though," he said, "the arboretum will be around for a long time. We will have left our mark on Blacksburg."
He reached over from the arboretum path to finger a small twig in a circle of mulch. "It made it. It's a species called live oak. Have you ever seen live oaks in the South?" he asked a visitor. "They can be truly majestic."
The arboretum trail goes first through the coastal plain, which will receive the water oak, swamp white oak, and shumard oak, all of which like moist soil. The piedmont is getting a strawberry bush, which produces pink fruits, although not quite strawberries. The river bottom will be home to the silky dogwood, hornbeam, spice bush and the honey locust.
If wood violets can appear on a forest floor, an arboretum can sport a few flowers. When Janice Zenner came to dig here last year, she learned that the small meadow area planned for wildflowers was empty. "We have two greenhouses," she told Crane, "and I'll grow you some flowers." She started six to eight flats this year in late February, and the small plugs will go into the ground on Saturday. "All yellow!" she said. "Coreopsis and rudbeckia [black-eyed Susans], and they should bloom around June. Next year, I'll grow something in red, and perhaps some blue."
At the back of the arboretum property, the highest part of the land, is the original forest. Peterson estimates that there are 73 different species there. "We were lucky to find them intact," he said.
That area is named the Appalachian Hillside. All the areas will be plainly labeled in the fall, when geographical signs will be put into places.
The trees, however, will pose for a show-and-tell on the afternoon of April 29, next Saturday, when Peterson will conduct a tree walk. A row of redbuds should be in bloom by then along the edge of the Appalachian Hillside.
For the exact time of the walk, call Crane at 961-1133.
by CNB