‘LIKE YOU ARE IN NATURE’
Corporate arboretums — including at Graceland — honor importance of trees
Graceland and FedEx have achieved certified arboretum status at some of their local properties, displaying and ID’ing a variety of trees.
When tourists ride through the iconic gates of Graceland, many may find themselves taking a deep breath. Not only are they feeling excitement in getting a close look at the mansion, they may also be sensing the serenity Elvis undoubtedly felt whenever he came home.
“This is a busy part of town, but when you turn up the driveway, you feel like you are in nature,” said Jimmy Gambill, who is Elvis’ second cousin and serves as maintenance manager at Graceland.
The lawn and flowers are like backup singers for the star of the landscape — a collection of mature trees whose leaves envelope the property in shade and whose trunks stand like strong sentinels.
To honor the importance of the trees at Graceland, the staff recently coordinated the identification and mapping of 20 different species to become the first corporate arboretum in Tennessee certified by the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council.
“Our visitors have a lot of interest in the grounds and the trees,” said Gambill, who grew up playing on the grounds of Graceland where his parents, Marvin and Patsy Presley Gambill, worked. Now they don’t have to wonder about the identity of unfamiliar trees.
Another corporation, FedEx, recently certified arboretums at three of its local properties: World Headquarters at Hack’s Cross Road and Winchester, the World Technology Center in Collierville and the Corporate Administrative Center near Memphis International Airport.
Tennessee’s arboretum program, which began in 2000, has certified about 80 arboretums across the state.
They range from Level 1 sites with at least 30 different species to Level 4 sites with at least 120 species. Participants in the new corporate program need just 10 different species to qualify.
Certification has been bestowed on churches, cemeteries, schools, neighborhoods, parks, nature centers and neighborhoods.
Corporate arboretums serve several purposes, said Dr. Douglas Airhart, professor of horticulture at Tennessee Technological University and coordinator of the arboretum program at the state’s Urban Forestry Council.
“It moves corporations away from monocultures in their landscapes, helps them achieve their green policy goals and broadens their understanding of landscape architecture,” he said.
At Graceland, crape myrtles, which produce pink, purple, red and white flowers most of the summer, often impress and puzzle visitors from northern climates where they do not grow, he said.
A catalpa tree soaring 60 feet above the path just outside the Meditation Garden draws notice when it flowers in the spring and when its resident squirrels pop in and out of a hole in the trunk.
Other trees in the collection include red maple, Japanese maple, pecan, American holly, southern magnolia, saucer magnolia, sweet bay magnolia, black cherry, American red plum, American and oriental ar- borvitae and winged elm.
Over the years, some trees succumbed to disease, old age and storms.
“We always replant them with the same or similar trees because we want the landscaping to look like it did when Elvis was here,” Gambill said.
It hurts to lose an old tree, like the oak tree that had lived in the pasture for at least 125 years, according to its age rings.
But replacements grow quickly.
When a willow oak on the north side of the mansion fell during the 1994 ice storm, it was replaced by another willow oak that now reaches the eaves of the second story.
Several pin oaks installed when Graceland opened to the public in 1982 are now mature reminders of that milestone.
All the attention now lavished on the trees makes one wonder whether Elvis had a favorite tree or a special feeling about the trees at Graceland?
“I was only 14 when he died and never thought of asking him that kind of question,” Gambill said. “But I know he liked to stand on an old tree stump near the gates to sign autographs.”
Elvis also had the important trees on the front lawn illuminated, presumably so he could enjoy them at night when he was most active.
Two years ago, a sprinkler system was installed so the lawn can get enough water to stay green during the busy months and dry months of July and August.
The trees also benefit from the readily available moisture.
At FedEx, the trees were inventoried and labeled about seven years ago, but certification had to wait until the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council changed its rules to include businesses that do not provide public access of their grounds due to security issues.
That change was implemented after the council lost funding from state and federal governments, which mandated the public access requirement.
“Our focus is on improving the lives of our employees and the communities we serve,” said Scott Fiedler, a spokesman for FedEx.
That includes creating diverse landscapes with trails so employees are never far from the opportunity to take a nature walk.
A tree team was assembled by Mike Glenn, who recently retired from his job in FedEx’s properties department.
It included two other employees, one of whom was a Master Gardener. A graduate student from the University of Memphis assisted the team.
The trees do more than provide shade and beauty.
“Their berries and nuts provide food for the diverse wildlife we have on all three campuses,” Fiedler said.
Research has shown that employees who have a view of nature from their desks are less frustrated, more patient and have more enthusiasm for their jobs than those with no opportunity to see nature during the work day.
“It’s hard to imagine getting off the shuttle at Graceland and the trees not being there,” Airhart said.
“Visitors would be standing in the blazing sun instead of the shade.”
With more than 600,000 visitors each year, Graceland offers a great opportunity to teach people about trees.
“If all that happens is 100,000 more people in the world know how to say arboretum and what one is, that will be wonderful,” Airhart said.
Jimmy Ferrell, owner of Ferrell’s Tree Service and development chairman for Tennessee Urban Forestry Council, approached the staff at Graceland about becoming the first certified corporate arboretum in Tennessee.
Ferrell got to know Gambill and his wife, Regina Gambill, operations director at Elvis Presley Enterprises, through his former business, Ferrell’s Custom Towing.
His company was hired to move all of the automobiles exhibited in the Elvis Presley Car Museum, which opened in 1989. Since then, whenever vehicles had to be moved at Graceland, Ferrell was hired to do the job.
In the early 1990s, Ferrell sold the towing business in favor of one that removes and maintains nature’s living legends — trees.
Today he also operates iArbor.com, a company he formed to guide corporations in Tennessee and other states in establishing arboretums.
“My goal is to raise awareness of the importance of trees and to raise money to establish scholarships for students who want to pursue urban forestry as a career,” he said.
Christine Arpe Gang can be reached at chrisagang@hotmail.com