State Landscapers and Nurserymen bring ‘grassroots’ effort to NVCC

All-volunteer project will beautify the campus and provide educational tools for students

WATERBURY — The Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association (CNLA) is donating more than $35,000 worth of plants and labor as part of the largest improvement project ever to the grounds at Naugatuck Valley Community College.

On Oct. 4, the Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association will install more than $35,000 worth of free landscaping at NVCC as part of its annual PlantConnecticut program. It will be the largest landscaping improvement project ever on campus.

On Wednesday, Oct. 4, workers from up to a dozen CNLA-member firms will converge on NVCC as part of the association’s annual PlantConnecticut program. The program selects one site somewhere in Connecticut to receive complimentary landscaping in an effort to focus attention on the value of Connecticut-grown plants and encourage planting around the state.

“We're bringing a team of volunteer landscapers and hundreds of plants to the NVCC campus including its arboretum because we think they've got a great horticulture program,” said Bob Heffernan, executive secretary for CNLA. “With more than 100 varieties of new trees and plants, these gardens will become in-the-field study aids for the students for years to come.” According to Professor Eugene Wisniewski, Horticulture Program Coordinator, “There are several courses where students must learn how to identify a plant, how it grows and its characteristics. We’re trying to give them a living selection of plants to study rather than just photos in a book.”

“CNLA’s decision to select our campus for this year’s project will not only benefit the students in our horticulture, field biology and botany programs, but all students and staff alike, as well as the greater Waterbury community,” said Dr. Bonnie Simon, Director of NVCC’s Math/Science Division.

All of the landscaping that exists in NVCC’s Tamarack Arboretum, has been donated over the years by student clubs and members of the college. Currently, there are about 200 different species of trees and shrubs in the arboretum, which is used by students in horticulture, field biology and botany courses for species identification and other purposes. “We have a number of specimen trees that we’d like to get, and we’re also trying to set up a garden of shrubs and perennials for the horticulture students to study,” said Dr. Joseph Faryniarz, the Professor of Biological Sciences at NVCC who, with students and faculty, founded the Tamarack Arboretum in 1986. Dr. Faryniarz along with the Agro-Bio Club is actively involved in the maintenance of the Arboretum. Two students, Ada Lambert and William Allread have created an extensive photographic field guide of the Arboretum which will soon be available on the NVCC website.

NVCC is one of only two colleges in Connecticut that offers a degree in horticulture. The program prepares students for continuing their education at a four-year university or for employment in landscaping, greenhouses, garden centers and as landscape designers. Over 500 students have received training at NVCC and have gone on to start their own businesses. The University of Connecticut is the only other college in the state that offers a horticulture degree. In 2004, the two schools announced an agreement that allows horticulture graduates from NVCC to seamlessly transfer to UConn to go on to earn a bachelor’s degree.

In 2005, NVCC’s horticulture program became the first in Connecticut to be accredited by the nation’s largest trade association for landscape professionals, the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET). PLANET’s accreditation means the association believes NVCC’s horticulture curriculum more than meets the needs of the landscape industry by meeting its rigorous set of educational standards.

NVCC offers more than 100 associate degrees and credit certificates, as well as hundreds of non-credit programs. It serves more than 5,600 students from 35 communities across western Connecticut from Litchfield to Waterbury to Seymour to Southbury and Danbury.

The CNLA is the trade association for landscapers, landscape designers, nurseries, garden centers and growers of trees, shrubs and perennial-annual flowers. It has more than 400 members. The production of flowers and plants is Connecticut’s largest agricultural industry, valued at more than $1 billion annually.

In past years, PlantConnecticut has donated landscaping to improve the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, the Lock Museum of America in Terryville, the railroad station in New Milford and other sites. The program began in 1950.

“Our members are always very generous and they are all very excited about the fact that this year’s project involves a college where there are students who are coming into our industry,” said Barry F. Burton, who owns B.F. Burton Landscapes Inc. in Roxbury and is organizing the project.

The volunteers from CNLA member firms are expected to begin planting around 7:00 a.m. and completing the job by 4:00 p.m.

Beautification Event Photos:

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