Agriculture students spruce up landscaping for veterans

Landscaped areas at the Missouri Veterans Home have received some much-needed pruning, weeding and general cleanup on a weekly basis since early this month. Under the direction of their professor, James McCrimmon, nearly 40 Southeast Missouri State University students from the Department of Agriculture have been taking part in a semester project at the home. The project has redefined the outdoor environments where relatives visit with their loved ones when the weather is suitable. For some residents, the landscaped areas are often the extent of their outside world, aside from visits to doctors or hospitals.

McCrimmon's previous "Introduction to Horticulture" classes spent their lab time at the horticulture courtyard at Magill Hall, Wildwood presidential home and other on-campus sites.

"This semester I wanted to do some projects off campus as community outreach," McCrimmon said.

Veterans home public relations director Ken Lipps said that with so much attention focused on inside renovations, some of the landscaped areas became neglected.

"And with the summer rain, good grief."

Early on, McCrimmon made an assessment of the three areas in question at the veterans home, believing they were just overgrown. Once students began weeding and cutting back branches and shrubs blocking some windows, plants that were grown over and buried by other foliage were revealed.

Student Ernie Kon believes plant life will flourish as a result of the work.

"Students enjoy themselves and get gratification by helping out," he said.

The front of the veterans home was tackled first. Then students worked on landscaped areas outside C and B wings, each about 25 by 50 feet; and the larger special care unit garden was the biggest challenge, producing 17 industrial-strength trash bags filled with yard waste.

Lipps said the Missouri Veterans Home is grateful for the donated labor. "We hope to look to McCrimmon and his students for advice on the newly constructed Atrium Area. It just cries out for landscaping."

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133