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__F47 The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH LIVING Sunday, January 24,1999 GENEVIEVE FOLSOM The Print of Dick Lighty’s Green Thumb Is Everywhere BY DENISE COWIE KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE = You may never have heard of Dick his own garden, so he’s not just an academician but a dirt dening, you've almostcertainly benefited from his work over the past 40 years. gardener who knows what a good plant is and what a gardener requires of a plant.” Lighty. But if you love gardens andgar- GARDENING Scientist. Plant a Tree Now, Touch Generations Plant explorer. Teacher. Researcher. Dirt gardener. Mentorto a generation of horticultural Whenyou planta tree, it could be the one youngsters will be playing under two or three generations from now. Planting a tree may be one of the most important additions you can make to the landscape. The branchesgive cooling shade in summerand wind protection in the winter. Roots help stabilize thesoil, and the foliage helps replenish our air by consuming carbon dioxide and manufac- turing oxygen. Trees provide nesting places, food and protection for birds and animals. They cal-botany specialist Mike Balick at New Andhe’s notlikely to slow down much just because he hungup hisofficialhorticultural hat recently, when he retired go on andon. “He was a great inspiration, and often the best teachers are those who inspire others to learn,” says Longwood’s Roberts, whocalls Lighty’s role in developing leadership in public horticulture his greatest contribution. “He is a serious idealist, and always has been.” from the Mount Cuba Center for the Study of Piedmont Flora. The research center, set in the 230-acre private estate of Mrs. Lammot du Pont Copeland in Greenville, Del., focuses on increasing appreciation of native plants, partly by getting the best cultivars out to the pubIn the future, Lighty says, “I'm going to tree. Consider the mature size of the variety you select and makecertain it will not outgrow the space you have. Some tree varieties will grow to 75 feet or more andhavea spread of about 25 feet. A tree that size should be planted at least 30 feet from the neareststructure. lecturing, writing, serving on countless boards, and gardening with his wife, Sally, on their 7-acre property near Kennett Squarein Chester County, Pa. “I'm a plant nut, so I have a bit of a collection of plants as well as a garden,” he says. “My propertyis divided by a stream, and backin the early '60s I madea policy If you have a small garden, you should of not planting anything that wasnotna- such as crabapples. Dwarf fruit trees are perfect for smal! yards. on theotherhalf I could garden with anything I wanted.” He wasthen a geneticist in charge of the experimental greenhouses at Long- select one of the dwarf or smallertrees, tive to the United States on oneside, and Some other small trees are the flower- ing cherry, peach and plum, magnolia, smoketree, redbud and hawthorn. The wood Gardens, and — with Ed Corbett of European whiteclumpbirch will do well in semi-shadeandis lovely planted near a water feature, such as a pool. The blue atlas cedar has blue-gray needles in dense clusters. The goldenrain tree is a medium-sized tree with golden blooms in July. It likes our alkaline soil and a sunnylocation. Your nursery will be able to give you a list of trees suited to your needs. For real family fun, plant a tree for your children ontheir birthdays. The tree could become part of the homeland- scape or be donated to a park or other communityplanting. Let the children participate in selecting the tree, preparing the soil and planting. Then let them the U.S. Department of Agriculture — partof the first plant exploration of Ko- rea since Ernest Wilson wenttherein the early part of the century. They brought back about 450 plants. Lighty still has a lot of the plants he collected, although manyhavebeenlost. Lighty’s thumbprintcan beseenin the gardens at Longwood Gardensor Morris Arboretum, the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. He trained the people who nowrun theseinstitutions during his 16yearstint as inaugural coordinator of the Longwood Graduate Program in Public Garden Administration at the University of Delaware. water andcareforit. Place a marker “His former students are a Who’s Who with the child’s nameandbirthdate by je tree. Celebrate birthdayparties each yearin the shadeofthe tree. This will teach children the importance of trees and their value in the environment. Arbor Day this year is April 30. This is an excellent time for planting a tree for your child. Another tree eventfor chil- drenis the annual Utah Arbor Day poster contest sponsored by the Arbor Day Committee. The goal of the program is to educate Utah youth about the importance of trees. Another objective is encouraging children’s creativity. For more information orto register for the program, call 538-5555, or write to Utah Arbor Day Committee, Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, 1594 W. North Temple, Suite 3520, Box 145703, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-5703 Poe) Richard W. Lighty has been all of those. continue doing what I'm doing now” — spring, foliage in fall and colorful bark and berries for winter enjoyment. But plan carefully before you plant a Paul Meyer director, Morris Arboretum leaders. lic. enhancethe garden with flowers in the S$ “Dick Lighty is always out in of horticulture,” says Colvin Randall, Longwood Gardens’ public-relations manager(and one of Lighty’s graduates). He's not kidding. Justlocally, there are Morris Arboretum director Paul Meyer, Longwood director Fred Roberts, Scott Arboretum director Claire Sawyers, Jane Pepperat Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Valencia Libby at Temple, Pam Sapko at the Delaware Center for Horticulture in Wilmington. . Branch out a bit and there are Judith Zuk and Robert Hyland, whoarepresident and vice president of Brooklyn Botanic Garden; Gary Koller, senior horti- culturalist at Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum; Katy Moss Warner, director of Walt Disney World's horticultural and environmental initiative; Peggy Cornett, who runs the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at Monticello; tropi York Botanical Gardens — thelist could “These are native American plants, and they represent superior selections that are really very useful in the ama- “Heset a standard [for public gardens] and a role modelofexcellence that didn't teur’s garden. Dick Lighty is always out in his own garden, so he’s not just an academician but a dirt gardener who knows what a good plant is and what a gardener requiresof a plant.”” exist before,” says Koller, of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. In 1983 Lighty was given honorary lifetime membership in the American Asso- There's another Lighty introduction that Meyerthinks isn’t grown as widely as ciation of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. it should be. “Early in Dick’s career he was a hy- Thenthere are theplants. If the creamy panicles of Aruncus aethusifolius grace your yard in early summer, thank Lighty — he waspart of the expedition that brought it back from Korea. Likewise Hydrangea macrophylla var. serrata “Blue Billow” — it was a seedling Lighty raised from seed he collected on the slopes of Mount Halla in South Korea. They're among the 20 new plants Lighty introduced into commerce during his career. “His plant introductions during his bridizer, and he did his doctoral work on the genuslilium,” he says. “A plant that continuesto be a very fine planttoday. . . is a lily called ‘Sally,’ which he named after his wife. It's one that I've grown for years in mygarden andI reallyenjoy. It's an orangey-colored one, veryfloriferous, with speckles.” “Sally,” whichis very disease-resistant, was for years voted one of the Top 10 lilies by the North American Lily Society Dirt gardener is a term that comes up days at Mount Cuba are notable,” says often when people talk about Lighty “He's an unusual combinationof some- Morris Arboretum’s Meyer. “One that comes to mind is aster ‘Purple Dome,’ whichis really beginning to move into the {nursery] trade. And the red-twig dog- one who has great broad grounding in science, but he really is a dirt gardener,” says Rick Darke, author and a former curator of plants at Longwood, who took his first horticultural course from Lightyat wood that he introduced, ‘Silver and Gold’ — whichis actually a yellow-twig form of Cornus sericea — is a very upand-comingintroduction the University of Delaware. “He knows howto grow plants, and heloves to share them.” This month, TimberPress will publish Darke’s Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses. “Dick was the one who introduced me to grasses,” says Darke. In fact, he adds, the popular Korean feathergrass is an introduction from Lighty’s first expedition. Lighty has been working on his own 3¥4-acre garden for almost four decades, changing it as his sense of what he wanted from a garden changed. “Sometrees I've planted are now mature,” he says. “I’ve been able to correct my errors, some of them. Some of the early plantings I got from Longwood, and I was fairly ignorant and planted things that are nowvery large trees. If id known then what I knownow, done.” But he can trace his career here, and much of hislife. “As I go around all the plants in my garden, they remind me of all the people. some living, some now dead, who gave mv those plants 20 or 30 years ago.” He pauses and laughs. “So it’s a bit like having a cemeteryin your garden. But you do remember the people who were so generous and shared things with you.” ave ERICKSON RaedrosSoaks SALT LAKE GRANSTVILLE SALT LAKE NORTH SL SOUTH JORDAN SANDY SALT LAKE TAYLORSVILLE SANDY WEST JORDAN $185,000 $189,900 $97,000 $175,000 $268,000 $140,000 $189,000 $134,000 $190,000 $160,000 #1164 #1714 #1194 #1284 #1844 #1024 |/ #1594 #1084 #1444 #454 BYY OR SELL. 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FORE close 43d, 3, decor shows ike TyioJostul ena Onn Maus Yo 67sgtba.ace 3 fo a cor bed ahaven $50.00. osoa abe | ona teaser rime "9 ret \ be Erette BHa " Last fore rece] aziloatSolem hae WrtongUF set (4000 oh wording le 200 $c1m tome fmm 1Malone Got Cama so Reeeelerie,sorta) PeeRead Lith t aad ercom, okie ined trian ins igregut. re Dan tonte Totey -abinety, som congo Cononeion 4t-43sa] ww ney would have done someofthethings I"f “Call the coach’s 24 hr. recorded hot line and enter the property number for complete details.” #352-97: 06 $450,000 #i7e4 278-4414 1-800-456-5192 Bonnie Weller/Philadelphia Inquirer Scientist, teacher and gardenerRichard W.Lighty recently retired from the MountCubaCenterfor the Study of Piedmont Flora in Delaware. 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