Volunteers from campus, community assist at arboretum

Volunteers from the Chadron community and Chadron State College joined CSC’s Horticulturist and Grounds Supervisor Lucinda Mays Saturday morning for the sixth year of the Campus Volunteers Arboretum, to learn about pruning plants ranging from bushes, shrubs, trees, and others.

Mays began the event by introducing everyone and gave a brief presentation of the campus vegetation and what she does to keep everything healthy. One reason Mays does the arboretum is from the “exchange of information,” from all the members who join. Some bring outside knowledge Mays can elaborate on.

Many of the examples Mays used were from damaged trees or shrubs on campus, which are still healing from Winter Storm Atlas, which hit the area in October 2013. Members were informed on how to trim and thin shrubs and bushes, where to cut and how much to cut in order to keep it healthy.

Mays took the group to a Chokecherry bush between Edna hall and the parking lot behind the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center. There, each participant took turns trimming and thinning limbs after Mays informed and showed them where to cut and what limbs to cut. To many of the members surprise, Mays had the larger limbs thinned to make room for other branches and keep limbs from hanging over the sidewalk and parking lot.

She noted that March and April are the prime time to prune and cut off the blooms and fruit, this practice is known as coppice, a European tradition.

While thinning the Chokecherry bush, a group found a praying mantis egg sack, which normally hatches in 70 to 80 degree weather with approximately 100 eggs. Mays relocated the limb the egg sack was on and the group moved to another set of plants surrounding the Sandoz Center.

The arboretum lasted until noon, and any questions participants had during the time Mays answered to the best of her knowledge.