Allen Mackey

Prof. Marx

English 134-16

9 November 2004

The Leaning Pine Arboretum: Where Green Thumbs Flourish

            It was a cold autumn morning when I walked to my interview with Chris Wassenberg, the graduate student in Environmental Horticultural Science to whom I credit the information in this essay. As I walked down North Perimeter Road, I carried only a legal pad on which to take notes. I turned north onto Via Carta near the Campus Market and was faced with the long walk to the Environmental Horticultural Science (EHS) unit. A frigid wind began to blow a few meters after I rounded the corner and continued to bluster all way the to the EHS unit, where I passed through a short corridor between a couple greenhouses in which pesticides are tested. On the other side of this hall and to the left was the site and subject of my interview: the Leaning Pine Arboretum. Although it may not be apparent by just looking at it, this agricultural facility on the Cal Poly, SLO campus is a true working landscape.

            In the 1970s, Cal Poly began work on an arboretum. Although many different plant species were successfully grown in this garden, “it never had a cohesive theme,” said Wassenberg. That was until the early 1990s when Tom Eltzroth took over as director of the arboretum and made his vision of the Leaning Pine Arboretum a reality. He decided to change the unit into a five garden compound featuring plants from the five mediterranean areas of the world: California, Australia, Chile, South Africa, and the Mediterranean Basin. The staff of the Leaning Pine Arboretum is now comprised of six student gardeners, a manager, a publicist, and the director, Tom Eltzroth.

            According to the Webster’s II New College Dictionary, an arboretum is “a place for the scientific study and public display of various species of trees and shrubs.” By this definition, the horticultural gardens of the Leaning Pine form a true arboretum. For example, in the area of scientific study, the gardens are used for horticultural research by the EHS department of the College of Agriculture at Cal Poly. In this research, plants both common and uncommon to the San Luis Valley are tested for survival in the soil of the region. These findings are used to make others aware of the appropriate landscape for the mediterranean climate that covers most of California. The gardens are also used as an area for practicing the identification of various plants by the Ornamental Horticulture students.

            The other quality of an arboretum, being an area of ornamental public display, is only apparent when you are inside the arboretum. Stepping into the arboretum is like stepping into an alpine forest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Redwood trees rise up overhead, and pine needles can be spotted on the edges of the path. To the right is the entrance of the California Garden, which, at 3 acres, is the largest collection in the arboretum. The alpine feeling continues through this area as more redwood trees rise from the clay soil beside the path and around the small ponds. This area was designed by Dave Fross after Sequoia Canyon, a region of Kings Canyon National Park in the Southern area of the Sierras. Surrounding the ponds are tule reeds and other plants of the California wetlands.

            The New Zealand garden rests just next to the California garden and is only one acre in size, as are the rest of the gardens excepting the California collection. Despite its small size, this collection holds many interesting plants on which I had never before laid my eyes. One shrub that caught my attention was the wire-netting bush. This obscure plant looked as though it was constructed of a thousand twigs and short sticks all woven together to resemble a tangled mess of chicken wire. A karo tree stood nearly nine meters tall in the center of the collection with its thin, gray trunk and a thick, round canopy of long, forest green, elliptical leaves. Next to the karo was an enormous New Zealand Christmas Tree that stood around twenty-five feet in height and looked like a larger karo with a thicker trunk and a canopy of a darker green.

            As I continued on through the arboretum, walking over a grassy green lawn, I came to the Mediterranean Garden. Immediately I was faced with two full olive trees with their leaves so plentiful and close it made the trees look like bushy shrubs. Below these were several bushes of sage and rosemary, giving the area an aroma of seasoned goodness and the bold essence of Italian spice. Further along in the same collection, I noticed several quail running away as I drew near, but something else caught my eye. A small desert cottontail rabbit merely sat under and slightly behind a spot of sage. However as I drew a few feet nearer, it too darted past an Italian cypress and into another garden.

            As I walked further down the perimeter path, the sounds and sights of native wildlife were apparent. Hummingbirds of green and brown fluttered about from tree to tree, blossom to blossom in an attempt to satisfy their endless craving for nectar. Jack rabbits and desert cottontails could be sighted, although they were usually running at full canter away from anything they see moving their way. At certain times in the year, Wassenberg told me, it would not be uncommon to see a tarantula walking along the paths.

            The various tasks required to maintain the arboretum are rigorous and involved, but they are what make the arboretum a working landscape. Over time, the work of establishing an infrastructure of paths, retaining walls, and seating areas was completed, and the nature of work switched to maintenance of the facility. According to Wassenberg, the five gardens require seasonal pruning of the trees and shrubs, weeding of the beds, fertilizing those plants in need of special nutrients, mulching to control the moisture changes and temperature variations of the soil, raking of the dirt pathways, and weekly watering during the summer with less frequent watering in the other seasons. These tasks are performed by the six student gardeners, who spend ten hours each week at work in the garden. In charge of the students is Chris Wassenberg, the manager of the arboretum.

            The job of the manager is to do a weekly walk-through in the gardens to make certain that all of the maintenance work is complete, but he also does many landscaping projects. For example, at the time of my interview, Wassenberg was working with a Bobcat, a small bulldozer used on many service projects, to construct a retaining wall. This type of task may seem trivial and only beneficial for the appearance of the garden, but landscaping keeps the arboretum in a healthy and productive state. For instance, the clay mounds on which the collections sit serve an aesthetic purpose in the ornamental area of an arboretum in creating a rolling, multi-level landscape. However, the clay must be formed into mounds. Otherwise, the moisture in the soil would be unable to drain, causing the soil to expand and contract with the level of water, which leads to drowned roots in winter and dry, cracked soil in arid months.

            Above Wassenberg is the publicist whose job it is to track the bloom cycles of all of the plants in the Leaning Pine. This would not be a difficult task if it was a small scale garden, but to follow and record the cycles of all the plants in the six acre compound takes at least one year to complete. It is also the duty of the publicist to make up the brochures for the arboretum that are available to the public at the entrance of the California Garden.

            Overseeing every operation, as was previously stated, is the director, Tom Eltzroth. As director, he works with Chris Wassenberg to coordinate the work schedules of the student workers. According to Wassenberg, this task rapidly becomes “a nightmare” because each student has a different schedule from the others, and the schedules change every quarter.

            Despite all of the complications in administration and hardships in maintenance of the compound, the Leaning Pine Arboretum continues to flourish. It is said by Wassenberg that the arboretum is now an oasis in which the plants of each mediterranean region are beginning to cross between gardens. In the future, the arboretum will be utilized in the repair of an area bordering the future site of Student Housing North, which has been damaged by cattle grazing. With all the labor put into it and all the educational information retrieved from it, the Leaning Pine arboretum is a true working landscape.