Alaska horticulture - Alaska

OUTSTANDING COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATES AND FRIENDS WILL ... - Colorado State University (press release)

16.04.09

- Outstanding Colorado State University graduates and friends will be honored at the annual Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner on April 18.

The Colorado State University Alumni Association's top award, the William E. Morgan Alumni Achievement Award, will be presented to Jean Bethke Elshtain, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, Divinity School, The University of Chicago. Professor Elshtain, regularly named as one of America's foremost public intellectuals, lectures widely in the United States and abroad on themes of democracy, ethical dilemmas, religion and politics and international relations. In 2002, she received the Goodnow Award, the highest award bestowed by the American Political Science Association for distinguished service to the profession.

David and Paula Edwards will receive the Charles A. Lory Public Service Award for demonstrated exceptional and sustained leadership for their significant volunteer efforts at Colorado State and in the Fort Collins community. For more than two decades they have invested their time, expertise and leadership by committing themselves to building a community in areas of philanthropy, healthcare and social services, arts and culture and education. The Edwardses are involved in the Colorado State University Campaign Leadership Council, United Way of Larimer County, UniverCity Connections and the College of Liberal Arts Great Conversations among many others.

Source: Colorado State University (press release), CO

Bumblebees to berries: GBG research happens all over the state

Georgeson Botananical Garden, on the UAF campus, in full bloom

Here at the Georgeson Botanical Garden, an amazing amount of research occurs each year, and the horticultural discoveries extend far beyond the garden’s boundaries.

For example, in the upcoming growing season, research projects scattered around the state will provide useful information for many people seeking answers to a bevy of questions. Blueberry pickers will be out in force collecting stem cuttings for propagation of plants with the best berries. Anyone interested in having a blueberry patch in their own yard or who is interested in growing our wild blueberries for their fabulous antioxidants will be interested in this research. Graduate student Tina Buxbaum will be starting a project to identify the native pollinators of wild blueberry, and will import bumblebee hives to study how they affect fruit productivity.

Graduate student Sean Willison will head north to Prudhoe Bay to see if any of the cottonsedge or water sedge seeds sown last year will sprout and provide a way for oil companies to revegetate old gravel pads.

GBG is continuing its research on peonies, helping support the new Alaska Peony Growers Association. Planting times, root size, and other aspects of growing peonies will be studied. A network of trial sites is being developed from Fairbanks to Homer and Juneau. This will help determine how peonies grow and bloom for the commercial cut flower export markets.

Of course the annual flower and perennial trials will include hundreds of varieties, and we’ll also experiment with coriander as a seed crop and study heirloom vegetables versus the modern...

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