In the 1970s, a group of University of Idaho professors decided campus was missing something special — plant diversity.
But that changed when the empty valley used for private farmlands became what the UI community now knows as the Arboretum.
When the owner of the farmland passed and left it to the university, the Arboretum was born, said Paul Warnick, Arboretum horticulturist.
“Everything you see in the Arboretum is a gift to the university. Warnick said. My salary and my limited maintenance budget is provided by the university.”
A view of the beginning of the path to the Arboretum April 17.
Kali Nelson | Argonaut
Warnick has been the Arboretum horticulturist since 2003 when he took over for the first Director of the Arboretum Richard Naskali. He is the only full-time staff member of the Arboretum, but he does get help from a few seasonal workers.
There are about 20,000 plants in the Arboretum, Warnick said. All woody permanent plants have a metal label.
“That metal label has the name, the scientific name, the botanical family,” Warnick said.
The metal labels, each with a significant number, represent the year and amount of times that particular kind of plant was planted.
For example, if the number was 1982007I, ‘1982’ was the year the plant was planted and ‘007’ being the seventh kind planted.
All the plants are documented in a database, allowing Warnick to keep track of them.
When the new Arboretum was created, a master plan formed, which doesn’t have any resemblance to what is there now. Instead of trying to recreate an ecosystem, they have collected ornamental plants from each of the different regions, Warnick said.
“The sign says it is a living museum, which is true, but that’s kind of wordy for me, so when I give tours to different kinds of people I had to come up with an explanation that works for everybody, right?” Warnick said. “So, I came up with an Arboretum is essentially a zoo for plants.”
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kalinelson6