Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 29, 1993 TAG: 9308270215
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: VIRGINIA B. JORDAN CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He rides on Jenny Shuster's back on summer Monday evenings when she volunteers in Virginia Tech's Horticultural Gardens, coordinating the volunteers who keep the garden in its accustomed flowering state.
Shuster and her husband, Jonathan, came to Blacksburg from Alexandria in 1989, settling on Brush Mountain with two great Danes and four cats.
She wanted to meet people, and working in the garden accomplished that goal.
She says another advantage to the hoeing and weeding is "I get so many ideas for my own place."
As coordinator, Shuster organizes the evening hours for approximately 25 workers, 10 to 15 of whom show up on Monday evenings through October.
Many of the workers are master gardeners, fulfilling their requirement of 50 volunteer hours after classroom instruction. Their work is directed by Joseph Hunnings of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service.
Others are former students. Some are Friends of the Garden, who give financial support. Robert Lyons, the associate professor who oversees the garden, says there are about 250 Friends of the Garden.
Why do they come?
"For one thing, the learning experience is fantastic," said Betty Englar, a friend. "And I like being a part of such a beautiful place."
It's a diverse group whose members contribute their labors with zeal.
The garden is Lyons' ongoing project. He said it is one of the few public gardens with a regular staff of only one plus a part-timer, so the volunteers are invaluable.
A grant from Evans Gardner, an alumnus, makes it possible to employ an intern - sometimes two - working part-time during the summer.
The army of volunteers does a giant's share of work in an evening, carrying mulch and digging out weeds that sometimes are as big as the bushes. No one seems to mind, as long as the flowers are liberated.
In spring, summer and fall, the garden's colors are a feast for the eyes.
In May, the dominant color is blue - including blue geraniums.
In June, the perennial coreopsis is a bright splash of yellow. In July and August, the day lilies appear in white, royal purple or deep pink. Many were donated by Margaret Walrath.
August also is the time for amazement. A visitor looks up - way up - at what appears to be Superman corn. It turns out to be grass - giant reed grass.
On Sept. 24 at 5:15 p.m., there will be general rejoicing at the Grand Give-away, when all of the garden's annuals are available for free. A crowd annually gathers to make a mad rush for the seeds.
There is a sale, at the same time, of other plants and some small bushes.
When people rest in the garden, they do so courtesy of the Friends of the Garden, who donated money for six benches which were built by students.
The students also built the deck: three low platforms adjoining each other at different angles, guarded in the rear by a curving baluster.
The deck is the creation, both in design and construction, of the landscape construction class taught by Robert McDuffie.
Bonnie McCormick, an alumna of this class, gave the secret of the curved railing. "The wood had to be soaked in water for three days in order to bend it," she said.
Farther on is a patio with benches and an airy roof of randomly placed beams. Three weddings have taken place in the garden, one a year for the past three years.
A butterfly garden has been started, to be completed by 1994. Butterflies like plants to sip nectar, to lay eggs and as a place for larvae. Plants in the milkweed family, including the butterfly weed, are good for these purposes, as are the cardinal flower and the blue lobelia.
Next year, visitors may come to the garden not just to see the colorful flowers but also to enjoy the garden's equally colorful butterflies.
by CNB