Nancy Beatty named 2010 Volunteer of the Year
Nursery Notes By Joanne Healey, Nursery Manager
For close to a decade, Nancy Beatty has touched countless facets of the Arboretum. From working in the Native Plant Nursery and gardens, to leading nature walks and education programs, to planning for special events, her talent and enthusiasm are evident in all she does. In November, Nancy was named Arboretum Volunteer of the Year for 2010. An avid gardener and a former preschool teacher, Nancy had brought children to the Arboretum for many years. She was unaware of the many volunteer opportunities, though, until she made contact with Arboretum staff while selling home-grown flowers at a local farmers market.
Spring always holds many surprises for the gardener: the uncertainties of weather, plants appearing in new places—and disappearing in others—and this year your favorite nursery will open its greenhouse doors three weeks earlier than usual. The Arboretum Native Plant Nursery, offering the largest selection of ornamental native plants to Chesapeake gardeners since 1985, will open for the 2011 spring season in mid-April with a showcase of native plants at the Visitor’s Center. The second weekend in May— the traditional date for the Spring Native Plant Sale—is rather late in the spring gardening season. Serious gardeners have been busy buying and planting for weeks by the time the Arboretum Nursery opened. The opening weekend will be Friday, April 15 for members, and Saturday and Sunday, April 16 and 17 for the public. Thereafter, the Nursery will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until fall.
“My last child was going off to college, and the Arboretum seemed like the perfect fit to fill the spaces,” Nancy says. “I have been interested in gardening since I was very young, and I have always believed in trying to garden organically, so I think that is one thing that led me toward native plants.” She began volunteering in the Native Plant Nursery. “Working in the nursery on Tuesday mornings was a great experience for me. I was able to meet some really great folks.” In addition to nursery work, Nancy is a volunteer docent naturalist, leading guided nature walks and participating in the popular Soup ’n Walks program. She has proven an invaluable addition to the Arboretum’s series of seasonal events, from working at plant sales, to driving hay wagons for the Fall Family Festival (now the Festival of Leaves), to leading sold-out natural decorations workshops for the Holiday Greens Sale. Her talent as a garden designer and floral arranger—she is proprietor of Sweet Bay Garden and Floral Design—parlays into stunning native arrangements that grace the Visitor’s Center during holidays and at the Arboretum’s special events.
One of the top priorities for the Arboretum in 2011 is to operate a fully functional native plant nursery that propagates native plants from seeds collected from the Arboretum’s collection. This nursery-propagated stock will then be used for the Arboretum’s own site restoration as well as for sales to members and other Chesapeake gardeners. A generous gift from the Van Dyke Family Foundation is making it possible for the Arboretum Native Plant Nursery to restore the greenhouses and propagation house and to acquire equipment needed to expand its propagation capabilities.
“Exploring the Arboretum forest and meadows is something I truly enjoy,” Nancy says. “It’s peaceful and quiet and a great place to unwind and take in and appreciate the wonderful things we tend to overlook when we are busy and life gets too hectic. The falling leaves and the water flowing through Blockston Branch in the late fall are especially soothing. It’s always fun in late winter to search for the first skunk cabbage and in spring to watch the ferns unfurl.”
The ability to propagate plants from locally collected seed and to take cuttings from stock plants offers a number of benefits to the Arboretum, including: • Protecting wild populations of native coastal plain species; • Ensuring the provenance of plant stock;
“Nancy is a gardener and flower arranger extraordinaire,” says Arboretum Executive Director Ellie Altman. “The Arboretum is showered by immeasurable gifts when Nancy shares her talents by helping with plant sales, teaching flower arranging and natural ornament-making, leading nature walks, decorating for special programs and events—the list is long, and her years of service are just shy of a decade.”
• Offering gardeners nursery-propagated native plants that are more likely to survive; and • Reducing costs to the Arboretum. This gift and the support of the Arboretum volunteers who work at the Nursery make it possible for the Arboretum to offer the largest selection of ornamental native plants to the Chesapeake gardener.
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Nancy will be honored at a volunteer appreciation brunch in January. She and her husband live in Royal Oak, Talbot County. They will welcome their first grandchild in June. 6
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