Taking full advantage of nature’s palette is how Dave McCullough describes his job, and visitors to the David Traylor Zoo would be inclined to agree.
For 18 years, McCullough has been the horticulturist for the zoo and the city’s park system. It’s demanding work, but McCullough has no regrets.
“The plants don’t recognize weekends or holidays or things like that,” McCullough said, “so if something needs done, if I need to be here, I’m here.”
But since taking the job in 1991, he hasn’t looked back. A self-taught gardener, McCullough said working at the zoo and in the parks has been the culmination of his lifelong interest in trees and plants.
“It’s been a great way for me to educate myself and to express myself with plants,” he said. “I try to get the interest that I think plants deserve from all the patrons that come through here.”
Though he has no formal training in horticulture, McCullough has had a great deal of experience with gardening, beginning with helping his grandmother with her flowerbeds.
“The pansies always remind me of Grandma,” he said, indicating some of the flowers he has worked with. “I learned from her a lot of the names of things that are common around here, and she grew what worked around here, so I’ve kind of taken some of her experience and incorporated that in what I do.”
As he grew up, McCullough began spending time on the ESU campus, where trees were labeled with genus and species in Latin. That piqued his interest in trees, and from then on he carried a tree guide with him, going into the woods to educate himself.
“I guess I was a little horticulture geek, carrying that book around,” he said.
His learning has served him well, along with anyone who enjoys the zoo and the city’s parks. Since starting his job, McCullough and his crew have helped plant more than 1,100 trees in the area.
Before going into horticulture as a career, McCullough spent time working at various factories in the area, including Tyson, Didde and Modine. He operated a business with his wife, Second Nature Landscaping, for 13 years before being hired at the zoo.
The job, he said, is cyclical, based on the weather. His crew spends the winter months doing maintenance work and using the greenhouse to prepare for the warmer months. The greenhouse was built with the help of the Emporia Friends of the Zoo, and without it McCullough said there would be many things they wouldn’t be able to do.
“That greenhouse has made all the difference in the world,” he said. “We’re able to salvage specimen plants from year to year, take parent plants inside and work with them at our leisure to develop new ones.”
In the winter, the crew works with about 3,000 to 3,500 seedling plants in the greenhouse.
The more cold-hardy plants come out in March, and in April the crew starts working with another 3,500 seedlings of various plants that will supplant the others later in the season.
“You have to find what is going to work at certain times of the year and when they like to be started and cultivated and so on,” he said.
In addition to taking care of the zoo’s plants, McCullough and his crew are responsible for taking care of smaller patches at the All Veterans Memorial and the Jones Aquatic Center.
In fulfilling his duties at the zoo, McCullough operates under the same philosophy David Traylor did — he doesn’t develop anything that prevents him from maintaining the quality of what they have.
“It’s easy sometimes to launch projects, but it’s a little harder to keep them up to snuff over the long haul,” he said.
As far as favorite plants, McCullough said he likes anything variegated and chartreuse. He has started using variegated monkey grass and a chartreuse elephant ear called Lime Zinger that holds up to wind and sun if it gets plenty of water.
“I look for those things that have that advantage because it makes my job easier and makes it look better,” he said.
Despite the hard work and the long hours, McCullough said his work is fulfilling, and he enjoys helping the zoo fulfill its mission of educating people and giving them an experience in which they can immerse themselves.
“Catering to the senses is where I come in,” he said, “because I make things smell better and look better, and also enhance the lives of the animals in the exhibits.”
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builderboy (anonymous) says...
great job keep up the good work !!!!
September 20, 2009 at 6:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Summer_Breeze (anonymous) says...
Thank you, Dave--excellent job of bringing beauty to the community!
September 21, 2009 at 8:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )