theHword.com

ARBORETUM?? Here is a project with potential for you to think green, meet new friends, get your hands dirty, and to make a difference in the development of Hastings. Consider marking the date of April 10 to begin this journey with friends at the new Highland Park Arboretum.

I asked Jo Seiler of Hastings to write about this Master Gardener driven project in Hastings. Jo has been a Master Gardener with the University of Nebraska in Adams County for the past 10 years. Here is Jo’s story with slight editing:

Why is tree planting important? An unknown author penned these lines: “I am the heat of your hearth, the shade screening you from the sun, I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table. I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead, the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin. I am the gift of god and the friend of man.”

In 2007, UNL Master Gardeners made a commitment to seek establishment of an arboretum in Hastings at the historic Highland Park area between 12th and 14th street, Burlington Ave and St Joseph Ave. This 40 acre tract is home to the Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History, the Hastings Utility including Fisher Fountain and the Hastings Fire Department. It is the site of the Historic Pioneer Cemetery of nearly 200 remaining graves with distinctive headstones and the WW I Memorial at 12th and St Joseph.

What is an arboretum? It is an area of plantings of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals that serve an educational purpose. The goal is to provide a wide diversity of plants that are hardy in environment zones 4 and 5. These plantings will offer interested persons better understanding of size and shape of a specimen, as well as leaf shape, bark configuration, flowering and fruiting characteristics. When completed, there will be plants of medicinal value, ornamental grasses and gardens. Plantings are grouped with trees for spring or fall color, nut trees, and native trees. Groupings of new hybrid elms, an oak grove, evergreens and flowering and ornamental trees are being established. During the past 18 months, 88 trees have been planted around the Hastings Museum and within the Pioneer Cemetery, including the WWI Memorial. Arboretum trees and shrubs will have an identification label on posts that contain the scientific name and common name.

In addition to providing identified trees and shrubs, the Arboretum will become a beautiful, nurturing area providing shade, habitat for birds, wind control, and a place to walk through or picnic. Respect will be shown to the graves of pioneer residents.

We are thrilled with the prospects of developing the Highland Park Arboretum for the residents of Hastings. Nebraska has a history of tree planting with J. Sterling Morton establishing Arbor Day in 1883. Early pioneers and city leadership recognized the need for trees. By 1901, the Highland Park Arboretum area had over 4000 trees and shrubs planted, including lilacs, some of which are still present and will remain.

Highland Park Arboretum is a cooperative effort. Master Gardeners are not doing this alone, but with a coalition of community groups that have given invaluable help to this endeavor. Entities involved include the Hastings Park and Recreation Department, University of NE Extension in Adams County, Adams County Historical Society, Hastings Museum, Hastings Utilities, CCC Horticulture Department and Hastings Kiwanis. We welcome all residents interested in tree and shrub planting and development to join us. The next planting date is Saturday, April 10, from 8 to 12 a.m. convening at the Museum site.

Help in selecting plants for the Arboretum came from the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum. This group is an arm of the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska Forest Service. They not only surveyed the area and did an inventory of current tree quality on the site, have been helpful with grants, but have helped us become a designated Arboretum site. The Hastings Green City committee provided us with $1100  enabling us to have matching monies for grants. This has multiplied in to several thousands of dollars for tree planting. A legacy program has been established for commemorating loved ones, both living and deceased, by planting trees. Forms are available at the Park and Recreation office or through the Hastings Community Foundation.

A sign identifying the Arboretum will soon be erected along Burlington Ave. A wide hard surfaced walkway meandering through the park, a gazebo for groups to meet or hold educational classes, park benches, a kiosk showing areas of the arboretum, are planned for the future. A respectful iron fence on two sides of the arboretum and a children’s area are also planned.

The Arboretum will be a stunning addition to Hastings that can make us proud. There are several hundreds of trees yet to plant, and the effort works best when we group together to each make a small investment of time, labor or resources.

A favorite quote of mine is by Sydney Eddison, “Be enriched by your amazingly beautiful and spectacularly rewarding garden”- We might otherwise say, “By Hastings Highland Park Arboretum”.

I thank Jo Seiler for her vision, effort and determination in leading this project for the Hastings community as well as for Master Gardeners. Come aboard and be a part of changing the face of Hastings.

About the author: Don Siffring

Don Siffring is a 6 year Master Gardener with the University of Nebraska Extension in Adams County. He is a professor emeritus with the University of NE, Institute of Agriculture. Don works part-time as a Horticulture Aide with UNL Extension in Adams County. Don and his wife, Bev, retired to the Hastings Community in in 2003 to be closer to their married daughter and husband, Christi and Brian Berns of Bladen.