COALITION FOR CHRISTIAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITYS
GLOBAL STEWARDSHIP INITIATIVE
AZUSA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY, AZUSA, CA
Curricular/Co-curricular Project. The progress on the building of the University Interpretive Garden has been slow, but certainly progress has been made. The finalization of the overall project may yet be another year, due to the pressures of growth and change throughout the university. The garden is in the overall plan of the university, but unfortunately grounds and landscape projects do not share the passion and priority among the administration and decision-makers that economic and departmental projects do. I had hoped to share more of the progress on the garden along with the completion of the selection of resources for using the garden across the curriculum and around the community. Such is not the case at this time due to circumstances beyond my control. However, the report will highlight grounds and landscaping progress and resources selected for purchase through the CCC Global Stewardship Grant.
Garden Landscape Project Update. On the proposed garden blueprint and plan (attached), note that the northern portion of the planned garden site has been completely excavated and graded. These mechanical changes have included removal of existing plants from herbs to trees, the grading and reshaping the soil surface to include level and terraced areas, and installation of compatible watering systems and sprinklers where needed. Plant selections and purchase for the desert, chaparral, dry stream bed, and wildflower portions of the ecological gardens represented are in process. The redwood grove, plus portions of the riparian and tropics zones are nearing completion. However, the pond still needs to be initiated in the plan. Randy Berk, APU Grounds Coordinator, deserves leadership credit for developing the university garden vision plus collaborating with faculty and departments in expanding landscape resource potential for attractiveness, utility, quality, and learning. Ultimately, the university garden will serve to beautify the campus, to expand resources for learning across the curriculum, and to become a community resource for ministry, environment, and ecology.
Grant Budget Resource Acquisitions and Expenditures. Due to the unavoidable delays in garden preparation, some itemized expenditures such as brochure preparation have necessarily been at a standstill. However, priority as listed and costs remain the same as indicated in the grant proposal. Visits to regional resource centers for comp~native decision-making on the library and technology acquisitions have proved vital for follow- up. Discussions with staff and personal visits to Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, and the Los Angeles County & State Arboretum have provided opportunity to examine and evaluate resources for across the curriculum use. On-site staff were helpful in giving feedback on potential use, applications, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of selected resources, plus recommending others.
Resources prioritized for acquisition with grant monies (totaling $1050) to add to the current garden/plant/ecology/environment holdings of APU are:
Books listed by priority in acquisition-
Heywood, V.H. (ed). (1985). Flowering plants of the world. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Huxley, A. (ed). (1992). The new royal horticultural society dictionary of gardening. Volumes 1 - 4. New York: The Stockton Press.
Brickell, C. (ed.). (1989). The American horticultural society encyclopedia of garden plants. New York: Macmillan.
Hickman, J.C. (ed.). (1993). The Tepson manual: Higher plants of California. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
State of California: The Resources Agency. Plants for California landscapes: A catalog of drought tolerant plants. Bulletin #209. Sacramento, CA: State of Calif., Dept. of Water Resources.
Prentice, H.K. (1990). The gardens of Southern California. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Sawyer,J.O., & Keeler-Wolf,T. (1995). A manual of California vegetation. Sacramento, CA: Calif. Native Plant Society.
Schoenherr, A.A. (1992). A natural history of California. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Lindsay, M. (ed.). (1992). The visual dictionary of plants. Eyewitness Series. New York: Dorline Kindersley, Inc.
Bartel, J.R., & Belt, S.C. (1977). A guide to botanical resources of Southern California. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Natl. History Museum.
Tanaka, T. (1976). Tanaka's cyclopedia of edible plants of the world. Tokyo: Keigaku Publishing.
Heywood, C.A., Heywood, V.H., & Jackson, P.W. (1990). International directory of botanical gardens (5th ed.). Champaign, IL: Koeltz Scientific Books.
Pfander, F. (1983). A color atlas of poisonous plants. London: Wolfe Publ.
Technology listed by priority in acquisition--
Nature Perfected: The Story of the Garden (video)
Plant It (CD-ROM)
Native Wildflowers of California (CD-ROM)
Environmental Systems Research Institute (CE)-ROM)
Sunset Western Garden Interactive Guide (CD-ROM)
Gardens of the World. Vols. 1 - 6. (video)
How To Create Your Own Wildflower Meadow (video)
A Short Course on Ferns (video)
Rocky Mountain Wildflowers (CD-ROM)
Further review comparisons and/or screening are planned for final decisions in acquisition totaling $1050. Other monies ($450) are designated for materials and brochures to be applied with the completion of the university garden.
Click here for an illustration of the Interpretive Gardens Concept
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