Rhododendrons show cemetery's true colors

By Mary Spicer

05/27/08 May 26, 2008 10:15 pm

— The annual riot of color known as rhododendron season in Meadville is upon us.
Some blossoms got an early start, but as soon as the weather hit 70 degrees, the show begins in earnest, James Vogan, superintendent of Greendale Cemetery, said Thursday.
Superintendent since 1981, he’s in a position to know. Greendale’s rhododendron collection, which got its formal start back in 1875, was named one of the Cultural Landscape Foundation’s “Heroes of Horticulture” in 2007.
“Once they get into full bloom, they can last up to two weeks — depending on the weather,” Vogan explained. Once the blooming starts, however, temperature is no longer a critical factor. In fact, rain hard enough to knock the blossoms off is pretty much the only thing that can shorten the display, he said.
Vogan isn’t the only one excited about the arrival of rhododendron season. As part of a personal crusade in memory of her late husband, George, to transform Meadville into Rhododendron

City that began in 2007, Lorraine Yuhasz of Blooming Valley Nurseries recently arranged for 200 rhododendrons to be donated to the city by the R. Budd Dwyer Foundation. The bushes were planted Thursday in a large rectangle on the west side of French Creek Parkway near the Baldwin Street Park Road intersection. Funding for the planting was provided by the Emmaline D. Barco Beautifi-cation Fund Trust Under Will of George J. Barco, said the city’s planning and development manager, Rick Williams, on Thursday.
For those who delight in quibbling over details, the genus Rhododendron includes all azaleas and rhododendrons. According to University of Missouri’s department of horticulture, “the name ‘azalea’ is commonly used for native deciduous species and some evergreen Oriental types. In general, ‘rhododendron’ is used for those species that have large, evergreen, leathery leaves.” The bottom line, according to the pros, is simple: “No sharp division can be made, and it is always correct to call any of them rhododendrons.”
Whatever you call them, there is no shortage of local opportunities to view genus Rhododendron.

Go Greendale!
Entered through an elaborate gate at the top of Randolph Street, for example, the nonprofit, public cemetery known as Greendale was created as — and remains to this day — both a public park and a burial ground.
The final resting place for more than 21,000 individuals, the park-like grounds that cover more than 200 acres in the City of Meadville and adjoining West Mead Township have been recognized by American Nurseryman and Garden Design magazines — in no small part because of the more than 1,000 flowering bushes now preparing to spring into bloom.
“When people come up here, they need to get of the main roads,” Vogan advises. “Back in the back, on the winding dirt roads, is where you’ll find the most beautiful bushes.”
Some of those bushes, he quickly added, are 25 to 30 feet in width and 25 to 30 feet tall.
What many area residents don’t realize, he added, is that the grounds include some of the most beautiful hiking trails winding through a massive ravine on the property. “It’s virgin timber,” Vogan said. “We keep the trails maintained — the ravine is amazing.”
Visitors are encouraged to stop in at the office at the main gate. Cemetery hours are dawn to dusk; the office opens at 7 a.m.
“We’ll give you maps — tell you how to get on the trail and where it will take you,” Vogan said.
He also has an offer that may be too good to refuse — the superintendent himself gives personal tours to any groups or individuals who want to walk through the cemetery. Greendale is the final resting place for many of the area’s movers and shakers. “You can walk through on your own, but you don’t know what you’re looking at,” Vogan said. As for how long a walking tour takes, “You can get a lot of history in an hour,” he said with a chuckle. The tours, by the way, are free.
The history he loves to share is something Vogan has spent a lifetime learning. Back in the ninth grade, he took his first job there. Since becoming superintendent, he and his wife, Mary, have lived on the grounds for 27 years.
A boulder near the gate spells out a vision Vogan shares of what being a cemetery is all about. “It’s a place of respect for people who are buried here,” he said. “It’s a Meadville treasure.”

YOU CAN HELP
Greendale advisory
Greendale Cemetery encourages lot owners to donate rhododendrons, which the cemetery plants free of charge and then takes care of. “We don’t want people coming up here and planting rhododendrons,” cautions Superintendent James Vogan, who works with donors to get their bush planted in the best possible place. If rhododendrons aren’t the memorial of choice, flowering trees are also an option.
For information on Greendale Cemetery and its 2008 photo contest, visit www.greendalecemetery.org.

Yuhasz’ dream
Lorraine Yuhasz, owner of Blooming Valley Nurseries, is dedicated to the proposition that Meadville should be known as Rhododendron City. For information about purchasing a plant to be donated to the city and planted on city-owned land, call her at 724-2146.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.