Suffering from spring fever? Take a tree tour. UNM’s main campus is a nationally recognized arboretum. The dark shapes everyone rushed past during the long winter months are actually trees and shrubs – more than 300 species, many marked by green tags bearing their common and Latin names.
The sidewalks near the duck pond, for example, wind beneath more than a dozen varieties of mature trees: Japanese Pagodas, spruce, catalpa, olive, locust, flowering cherry, two species of willow and three varieties of pine. One of the hallmarks of a botanic collection is its concentration of diversity. A few more steps lead past an impressive patch of prickles: one of Albuquerque’s early xeric plantings, Castetter’s vintage 1940 cactus collection.
The south side of Scholes Hall is home to a venerable stand of Rio Grande Cottonwoods (Populus fremontii ‘Wislizenii’). Near a conspicuous bald patch are two new rustic benches.
“The tree finally lost its integrity and had to be taken down,” said Bryan Suhr, arborculture supervisor. “We asked and were given permission to slab it (create rough lumber from the trunk)… We did not count the rings – there were too many. It was 53-55 years old, a very respectable age for its kind.”
Strictly speaking, the term arboretum refers to trees, but UNM boasts many varieties of greenery worth admiring. The winter jasmine that line the tennis courts are already a frenzy of yellow, and by the end of the month, the huge beds of daffodils around University House should be worth the hike. The ranks of Bradford Pears along the Terrace Mall will soon be leafy and gorgeous, and the wisteria arching over the entrance to the education buildings will start to unfurl. As spring progresses, keep an eye out for blossoming crabapples, cherries and lilacs.
For self-guided tours, visit: Campus Arboretum Tour.
Story by Dottie Webb