Summer
Interns Into Their Work
Botanic
Garden summer interns sometimes become lost in their
work. (Photo by Pamela Dods.) |
Each
summer, the Botanic Garden hosts a team of interns in a 12-week
program in which they learn firsthand the skills and duties
associated with public garden maintenance as they work in
the Lyman Conservatory, campus gardens and grounds among
the 125-acre arboretum, originally designed by Frederick
Law Olmsted. More than 40 Smith students (and several from
the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and Hampshire
College) have worked in the program, now in its fifth year.
This summer’s program focused
on the twin themes of drought and destruction. With the low
rainfall this summer, great effort was spent watering (and
watering and watering) plantings, as well as rescuing many
after suffering under the wheels of construction vehicles
that swarmed campus.
Interns also played crucial
roles in replanting the Mendenhall Center Courtyard, adding
trees to the new Native Tree Arboretum beyond the Japanese
Tea Hut, and broadening “tree
circles” around campus to better
protect the health of Smith’s priceless tree collection.
Summer interns also pursue independent
projects, which this year included the creation of a campus
soil map, evaluation of the outdoor collection for economically
important species, and working with Facilities Management
to launch a project to eradicate invasive species along the
Mill River.
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