NJC Botanical Walk to include tips for winterizing plants and trees

***Press Release***

The Northeastern Junior College Foundation invites all interested citizens to attend the third Botanical Walk to be held on campus. The walk will be Thursday, October 17^th, beginning at 10 a.m.  This particular tour of the new and improved garden and landscape areas will also include some expert advice on how to prepare your own flower beds for winter.  The landscaped areas on campus are simply beautiful this fall. Brilliant reds, yellow, oranges and purples have given wonderful color to the walkways traveled by students.

 While fall as certainly flung and temperatures dropped considerably this week,  there is still plenty of time to give your plant areas the attention they need before the real hard freezes begin. Kimberly Harford, a licensed landscape architect with Country Gardens Nursery, who designed the various landscape plans on campus, will conduct the tour and provide winterizing tips.  She incorporated low-water-requiring plant and tree varieties specifically chosen to add color to the NJC campus throughout the year. 

When Blue Spruce Hall was built year before last, the architectural firm overseeing that project further complimented Harford’s designs by incorporating some beautiful  xeriscaping that now surrounds that new building and the adjacent Dowis and Herbie Halls.

As recent as two weeks ago, another major s beautification effort, designed by Harford,  was completed at the center of campus . This effort, spearheaded by the Alumni Association, will be debuted and talked about during the tour.

 The Spruce It Up beautification campaign on campus, which was kicked off  in 2011 by the Northeastern Junior College Foundation, is a continuation of efforts that began in 2009 when Kathy Rice, an administrative assistant on campus, applied for and received a grant from the Colorado Home and Garden Show to help cover the cost to install the Serenity Garden which is located between E. S. French Hall and Hays Student Center as well as a herb garden in the Student Center’s courtyard. That project was done using donated plants and student labor.  Since that time, a large number of individuals, businesses and civic groups have generously come forth to help improve the entire grounds on the campus and this level of support has provided the dollars to allow these other areas to be professionally landscaped.

This Botanical Walk is open to the public and is free of charge. Those planning to attend should wear a jacket, comfortable shoes and gather at the east end of Hays Student Center just prior to 10 a.m.  Refreshments will be served at the end of the event.