Event name: Tree Planting with UMD Arboretum
Event time and place: 10/24/2025 in front of Symons Hall
For my SGC excursion, I volunteered for a hands-on project with the UMD Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. The group of volunteers met outside of Symons Hall on October 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM and the event lasted approximately one hour.
Originally, I was under the impression that the Arboretum needed volunteers to help plant trees, which I was very excited to do because I love planting trees, and getting to watch a tree that you planted grow from a tiny sapling into a big, sturdy tree is one of the most rewarding things. Contrary to my expectations, the Arboretum had already planted trees with another group of volunteers and instead they needed help removing invasive weeds from the trees and bushes as well as spreading a layer of mulch over the ground to smother the remaining weeds.
When I arrived at Symons Hall, the event organizers handed out rakes and gloves to every volunteer and split us into groups to make the work go more efficiently. Before we started, the head of the event performed a visual demonstration on how to effectively pull the weeds without leaving any of it, and they explained which plants were invasive weeds and which ones were native to College Park so that we didn’t pull any of the harmless plants. The event leader explained that the type of weed we were dealing with were vine-like and would sometimes wrap around harmless plants, which is one of the major ways it harmed the native plants.
After the demonstrations were over, the organizers released us into our groups and assigned us each areas to de-weed and mulch. My group was assigned to a large island directly in front of the hall, and we quickly got to work pulling the weeds out. The work was much more physically intensive than I had expected, because the weeds were very stubborn and sometimes would snap when pulled, which meant that I had to be very intentional with my pulling. Also, the weeds had thorns on them that were sharp enough to puncture the gloves, so a degree of caution was required when pulling the weeds.
Once my group finished pulling most of the weeds, the organizers brought two wheelbarrows full of mulch over to our area and dumped them out. They instructed us on how to use the rakes to cover the entire island with mulch evenly, about 1-2 inches thick so that the weeds had no chance of growing back later. It was hard to reach certain spots underneath the bushes, but we tried our best to cover every spot.
I definitely think my work was helpful to the native plants and will continue to help them live and thrive without the invasive weeds stealing their nutrients. By the time my group left the project site, the difference was clearly visible. The native plants and bushes already looked much more beautiful and lively without all the weeds covering them. Also, assuming the mulch works correctly, the plants will remain this way for a while.
Overall, I was very glad to have taken part in this project with the UMD Arboretum and I would definitely do it again if given the chance. I really enjoyed getting to work with a group of people, the physical labor was intense but rewarding, and by the end of the project, I felt that I had made a measurable impact on the plants and trees at my university. I have a class in the armory twice a week, and when I pass by Symons hall, I always check on the plants and trees I helped because it makes me feel good to know that they’re still thriving due to the work of myself and others.