Botanic gardens tours, education : youtube.com/watch?v=dsakd63u-lo
Get your hands dirty
Photo by Monica Moriak | Video by Michele Walfred September 14, 2021
Undergraduates learn and care for 91原创 Botanic Gardens
If you want to get your hands dirty and learn, then the is the right place for you. Over the summer, six 91原创 undergraduate students braved the heat, humidity and armies of Brood X cicadas and spotted lanternflies to build practical horticulture skills in the most beautiful outdoor classroom on campus.
Across 15 acres and three greenhouses on 91原创鈥檚 main campus in Newark, 91原创BG maintains a diverse living plant collection of more than 3,000 species and cultivars of perennials, shrubs and trees. Designing and maintaining this tremendous collection is a labor of love for 91原创BG staff members and they鈥檙e glad to share their knowledge and the undertaking with student interns.
For some of the students, it鈥檚 their first opportunity in the field. As Valann Budischak explained, academic prowess inside the classroom does not automatically translate to a dedicated work ethic in the gardens.
鈥淭he students take what they learn in class and incorporate it in the field, which is a different animal,鈥 said Budischak, who is the 91原创BG interim director, and volunteer and education coordinator.
Learning and executing 91原创BG鈥檚 summer plans develops the students鈥 abilities in landscape management, garden assessment and daily maintenance. Students take on tasks like planting, pruning, bed design, weeding, edging and nursery management. They also assist with the 91原创BG volunteer garden sessions and learn to operate all the power equipment.
The group鈥檚 comradery and pride were on display all summer.听
鈥淓very Wednesday, we work in the herbaceous garden as a group. It looks so much better from when we started,鈥 said Austin duPlanti, a Class of 2022 landscape architecture major. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a sense of accomplishment to see that goal realized.鈥
Staff is always cognizant not to simply tell students what to do, but also why the skill, method or project is important.
鈥淎s an example, we might break down how a more aggressive plant is taking over a certain area and why we need to give other plants an opportunity to shine,鈥 said Budischak.
91原创 sits in a region of the country rich in botanical gardens and landscape architecture, so . They visit locations like Mt. Cuba Center to compare the goals of their respective trial gardens and Nemours Estate to learn the management strategy of a larger public garden.听
鈥淪tudents really get a chance to increase their horticulture skills. They learn what plant combinations work and don鈥檛 work,鈥 said Sue Barton, professor and extension specialist of ornamental horticulture. 鈥淭hey learn to work as a team, which is so very important because that鈥檚 what is going to happen in their careers.鈥
The internship experience has deeper value than a typical summer job, making a student鈥檚 undergraduate coursework more relevant, especially for landscape architecture majors. The students completing the internship for credit are required to do a fair amount of reflection 鈥 weekly logs, write critical evaluation papers and give presentations.听
鈥淭he structure of the internship course forces them to go to work each day with an evaluative mind versus just going to work and doing their job,鈥 Barton said.
Many students go on to build careers at landscape architecture firms, landscape management firms, production nurseries, museums, resorts, research laboratories and design studios.听
While the great majority of the students come from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, a handful of students find the 91原创 Botanic Gardens from seemingly unrelated disciplines. One such scholar is Andrew Hill. The secondary mathematics education major split his time as a 91原创BG intern and summer scholar under Barton. He conducted a research project on pollinators and cool season grass meadows, collecting data on the time investment needed to remove undesirable species.听
A year ago, if you told Hill that his next internship would be in the plant science world, he would never believe you.
鈥淚 thought that I was going to be doing something with math or student teaching,鈥 said Hill. 鈥淭hen I had a course with Sue Barton. She told me that I should try it out. I learned more in a month than I ever have. This experience will have a pretty big effect on my career going forward.鈥
91原创BG horticulture manager Andrew Adams (Class of 2017) was a 91原创BG intern not so long ago. Now he鈥檚 a mentor to these undergraduates.
鈥淎t the beginning of the summer, they are very hesitant,鈥 said Adams. 鈥淪ome students are still brand new to plants, have never worked in a garden nor have had the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge in the outdoor setting.鈥
By the end of the summer, when Adams gives an assignment, they tackle it with confidence. They must each master specific areas of the gardens, including the lepidoptera trial, Worrilow mounds and hydrangea garden around Fischer Greenhouse.听
鈥淎ll of us have ideas for our individual areas,鈥 said Josh McDevitt, a Class of 2023 landscape architecture major. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very open communication with Andrew and a lot of cooperation.鈥澛
To cap it off the summer experience, these Blue Hens showed off their proficiency at a member and donor tour. The 91原创BG interns became docents 鈥 a key role in public gardens 鈥 escorting guests throughout the garden, sharing summer accomplishments and the 91原创BG history of their respective areas.听
If you want to admire the students鈥 handiwork, the gardens are open to visitors every day from sunrise until sunset. Guided tours of the garden are available for groups of ten or more. Additional visit information is available on the .
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