There is a unique tree in a light hill towards the west entrance of the WB Young building. Recently planted and already built into the landscape, many Uconn students, faculties and employees probably go directly without registering the young tree.
But in this supplement to Uconn's national accredited arboretum is a “friendship” between two emeritus faculty members, their families and the university, which served as a background for a large part of their lives.
Sidney and Florence, Rudy and Joy
If you are familiar with the fields of horticulture or landscape architecture, the names Sidney Waxman and Rudy Favretti are aware of them. Both men are considered pioneers in their respective areas and were referred to as a home of the University of Connecticut for their professional activities.
They have also been good friends since their school days at Cornell University, where they graduated in the mid -1950s.
Sidney Waxman, born in 1923 in Providence, Rhode Island, is best known for creating almost 40 new types of dwarf network trees and trees, including outside of the young building.
“This tree is a symbol of the strong friendship between Sidney, his wife Florence, Rudy and me,” says Joy P. Favretti, widow of Rudy Favretti. “We knew each other in Cornell. Later, when we all married and moved to Connecticut, we watched the children of the other when they were small and they played together here in Storrs. Rudy and Sidney estimated the work of the other. It was really a friendship forever in many ways. “
Waxman founded Uconn's experimental plant kindergarten, where he concentrated a large part of his research on the development of new and interesting plants from witch brooms. These are anomalies in a tree or wooden plant in which a group of shoots develops at a single point. Sometimes caused by fungus or other pathogens, the resulting deformities can look like a witch broom or a bird nest.
Waxman and his wife Florence often merged to collect rehearsals when they traveled through the east of Connecticut and in the New England region.
“Florence was great in discovering the brooms of the witches,” says Joy Favretti. “Sid would hike into the forest and shoot her with his rifle. Finally, he had to use other methods and let a crew climb up and cut them off. “
Many of Waxman's specimens can be seen as part of a special collection in Uconn's campus -wide arboretum.
A new branch in Uconn's family tree
To say that the young tree of Waxman, who sits outside the young building, is something special can be an understatement.
“SIDS systems are increasingly difficult to find commercial. Therefore, the preservation of this copy, where the public can enjoy it, is very special, ”says Sean Vasington, architect of the university landscape and director of location planning with university planning, design and construction.
In fact, this tree may be one of the last that Waxman has ever created.
After Waxman's death in 2005, his son Paul brought the unique copy to the Favrettis according to his father's wishes.
“When Paul brought the tree, he was very meaningful,” says Joy Favretti. “He told us that it came from the broom of a witch's broom that had identified Rudy.”
With an allusion to the 60-year-old romance of the Favrettis and based on his admiration for Rudy's immense contributions to landscape design, Waxman had described the variety “Rudy's joy”.
In addition to its sentimental history, there are also a lot that makes the small tree something special from a gardening builder.
The broom of the witches discovered on a Norway maple was groped on a sugar maple, New England's local maple. The tree is known for its autumn colors and sweet syrup. Mark Brand, the chairman of Uconn's arboretum and professor of horticulture and plant breeding, is confident that the tree does not increase because it does not seem to produce flowers or fruit.
“Sydney was smart,” says Joy Favretti. “He realized that there was a need for growing foundations, since many of the new houses were only a story or one and a half history at that time. Connecticut Nurry Industry and many others were pleased to provide them in their kindergartens. “
While there are still many questions that become “Rudy's joy”, it is probably very large, about 50 feet and round.
Part of this uncertainty was the design. Waxman often integrated mushroom trunks into his new species, which can lead to unique forms developing. For example, “Rudys Joy” has a unique branch and has an unusual form.
“Its spherical shape and a single trunk should be very characteristic if the tree matures, especially during autumn, when its foliage becomes glowing yellow,” says Vasington.
“It will be remarkable and extremely unusual, that is one thing that we know with certainty,” says Greg Anderson, emeritus professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, member of the Uconn Arboretum and friend of the favrettis.
Out of love of the landscape
In addition to the reflection of the genius of Waxman's experiments, how it grows, “Rudy's joy” will be a tangible monument to the contributions, the Rudy Favretti to Uconn, the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (Cahnr) and the field of landscape architecture around the world.
Favretti's Uconn career was born in 1932 in Mystic, Connecticut as the son of Italian immigrants, and began as a student who was stopped in 1955 as an extension Garden Specialist. He later became a professor of landscape architecture and developed the Uconn program, which was nationally accredited with his participation, instructions and support almost 10 years after his departure from Uconn.
“Rudy Favretti's contributions in our area are known and immeasurable, but it is also a large part of the history of Uconn and that of college,” says Vasington.
While he was a committed resident of Mansfield, his legacy goes far beyond the main campus of Uconn and the surrounding area.
In 1989 Favretti withdrew from class to build a private design company with a specialty in the preservation.
Favretti's influence can also be seen in some of the most important historical gardens in American culture. Favretti served and served as the “Dean of Historical Restoration” from 1978 to 1998 as the architect of the consulting landscape for the Garden Club of Virginia.
His contribution had such an impact on the area of landscape architecture that he was recorded in 1992 as the Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. His collected works are kept in the archive of the Smithsonian Institute of the Archives of American Garden and in the Dodd Center for special collections and archives of the Uconn.
During his “retirement”, Favretti found time to act as head of Mansfield Planning & Zoning Committee, and published books for Mansfield Historical Society, which dealt with the history of each of the original city school.
“Rudy's love for learning and sharing this love with others never stopped,” says Anderson.
Uconn homecoming
In the months before Favretti's death, the Arboretum Committee and the University had hoped to accept and honor its contribution to Uconn. Unfortunately, a planned interview that would have made Favretti would have possible would not go to his beloved university and his field of landscape architecture.
But his friends, colleagues and wife Joy kept thinking of honoring them “forever friends”.
In the summer of 2023, Joy offered to donate Uconn as a monument “Rudy's joy” and to bring it to a suitable place on the campus for planting. In November 2023, the special tree was moved by one of the former students of Rudy by his overcrowded place in the Favretti garden to an inviting place where it can grow and develop on the Storrs campus of Uconn. Here the tree looks at the college for agriculture, health and natural resources, where Waxman and Favretti devoted so much of energy and intellect.
“Here, at this point, it is a suitable monument to our friendship,” says Joy Favretti.