By Whitney Baxter
With more than 12,000 trees, Iowa State University’s campus is recognized as one of the country’s most beautiful colleges. This summer, an additional 50-60 trees will be added to that count, all of which are considered “rare” species.
“They’re considered to be rare because not many homeowners would take a chance on these plants on their property as they are often hard to grow,” said Rhonda Martin, landscape architect with facilities planning and management.
The project is a collaboration between FP&M and Iowa State’s Student Government, which allocated $12,250 from its Green Initiative Fund to purchase the trees. Delaney Graef, a forestry student and student government senator, worked with Martin on this project before graduating in May.
“Being such a tree nerd, I’ve really opened people’s eyes to the needs of campus and how students can benefit from seeing tree species not commonly found in Iowa,” Graef said.
Among the rare species slated to arrive on campus are sawtooth oak (Graef’s favorite) and American filbert shrub (Martin’s favorite). Others include a striped maple, which is prevalent in the eastern U.S., and ponderosa pine, commonly found in the western and southern parts of the country.
“We’re diversifying the campus canopy to better represent the various regions of the United States and other parts of the world,” Martin said. “We try to get as broad a plant diversity as we can and as Iowa’s climate allows.”
Besides adding to campus’ beauty, the trees and bushes provide hands-on learning opportunities for students, including those in Jen Merryman’s dendrology class. Selected planting locations of the new species will take into consideration their proximity to walking routes Merryman, assistant teaching professor of natural resource ecology and management, and other faculty take students on for classes.
“Forestry professionals move around a lot throughout the course of their careers, so it’s important to expose forestry students to as many species as possible while they’re on campus,” Merryman said.
The young plants will also add a new generation of species to the campus’ mature canopy. This increased plant diversity will not only add interest and educational value, but it can also help resist plant insects and disease to ensure Iowa State maintains its natural beauty into the future.
Learn more about the trees and other plants at Iowa State by visiting the Campus Tree Inventory website.