Nature Study : Golden West College Campus Boasts a Lush Landscape of Exotic Trees and Flowers
Thousands of people from all over California and other states visit Golden West College here. The reason?
“People like to walk through our campus because it’s like a beautiful garden,” said Lori Thomas, a spokeswoman for the community college.
The 15,000-student campus has an array of specimen trees, exotic flowers and scenic vistas. And carrying out the school’s Western theme, there are also outdoor period pieces, including frontier wagons, mountain boulders and ore buckets on rails coming out of a mine-shaft facade.
It took years for the campus to achieve the lush look. “When the college opened, the land was pretty sparse,” Thomas said.
Now, 27 years later, 56 of the campus’s 122 acres are cultivated with more than 110 tree species and 200 plant species.
Dan Songster is one of nine groundskeepers responsible for their care. Songster, 42, who has been at the school for 18 years, has an encyclopedic knowledge of virtually everything that grows on campus.
“That’s one of the best smog-eating trees,” he said, pointing to a California sycamore. The tree simply takes in more hydrocarbons than it expels, he explained.
On another part of campus, at the amphitheater, Songster pats a eucalyptus tree, admiring its twisted shape. “It’s one of the few trees that keeps its leaves all year round and sheds its bark once a year,” he said of the Australian evergreen.
He advised against growing other plants near eucalyptus trees, whose roots secrete an oil that prevents others from surviving. “They form a monoculture,” Songster said. “Nothing else will grow.”
And his knowledge is not just based on what will work on the campus grounds. He knows the trees’ history too.
In the case of eucalyptus trees, he said that early settlers hoping to use the wood for railroad ties planted them on tree farms in California in the late 1800s. However, it was discovered that the wood was extremely gnarled and could not be used, he said.
As Songster canvasses the grounds, he rattles off names and tidbits about most of the plants he passes.
“Most of what’s grown in Southern California is not native,” he said, standing next to a black bamboo, found in Asia. Most people prefer European plants, which have colorful blooms, unlike plants indigenous to the Southland, he said.
But maintaining such a wide array of plants often can be difficult. Since the campus plays host to several events that attract thousands of people annually, the crowds can sometimes cause damage. “It absolutely kills the grass,” Songster said.
And with budgetary cutbacks, he said the school is forced to do more with less. Recent years have seen a reduction in the number of groundskeepers and supplies.
The college relies more heavily on grants and donations to keep the grounds full of colorful annual blooms.
Most students, however, cannot tell the difference.
“It looks nice,” said Mark Stovall, 19, a business student from Garden Grove. He admitted, however, that he normally does not pay close attention to the grounds.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Jennifer Stephenson, 20, of Westminster, who is studying humanities. “It’s good for students.”
“One of the nicest feelings is to provide an area where students can escape,” Songster said.
Areas worth noting on the campus, located three-fourths of a mile south of the San Diego Freeway on Golden West Street, include:
* The amphitheater. This secluded, serene outdoor arena is enclosed by numerous plant and tree species, including redwoods and eucalyptus trees. The 10-tiered facility, which seats 1,000, is the site of film festivals and this year’s commencement.
* The Criminal Justice Training Center. It may look like cotton is falling from the trees growing here, thanks to the flossy silk trees. Native to Brazil, the trees grow pods that split when they reach about four pounds, leaving a white filament that has a soft and silky feel.
* The study pits. Located between the Forum I and Humanities buildings, these recessed areas provide students with a quiet place to study. Several colorful plant species form natural barriers for these sunken cubicles here.
* The Center Quad. Walkways divide the large, well-maintained grassy area in the center of campus. Benches and more than two dozen London plane trees, also found in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, fill the area.
* The library entrance. Here, museum-like, outdoor period pieces--including ore buckets on rails that look as if they just emerged from a mine shaft--carry out the school’s Western theme.
* California Native Garden. When completed in spring of 1995, it will feature a microcosm of eight different groupings of plants from throughout the state. “The garden is divided into plant communities by soil and water requirements,” Songster said. Plans also call for a greenhouse, footbridge and a 30-seat amphitheater. “It’s a living classroom,” said Wendy Weber, director of public relations.
The college has a 1- to 1 1/2-mile walking tour planned for April 24 at 10 a.m. The tour is scheduled to last from 90 minutes to two hours. The starting point will be the Community Center. Space is limited. For more information, call the campus public relations office at (714) 895-8367.
