Horticulturist Nonna Stein works to beautify the city
City horticulturist Nonna Stein can’t recall exactly how many plants she has planted as part of her position with the urban forestry department, but this spring, she’ll know the fruits of her labor.
Stein has been working as the city’s first-ever horticulturist for about a year. Her position complements the city’s urban forester position, which deals mainly with trees. Stein’s work, if all goes as planned, can be seen at various areas around the city, including city hall, the Civic Center and Pepper Branch Park this spring and summer.
To say Stein, who holds a degree in horticulture from MTSU, has a green thumb might be an understatement. She’s not a “tree-hugger” environmentalist as some might assume at first glance. She does as much weed-eating as planting and really enjoys her work.
“Mainly, I problem solve, and that’s what I like,” she said after a brief break from planting about 300 plants at Pepper Branch Park. “I get to work with nursery owners and find plants and take problem areas like this and instead of just throwing grass on it, someone donated honeysuckle.”
And she knows what she’s doing.
Early this year, Stein became a certified nursery professional after passing what has been described as a difficult test on first try. City leaders have been impressed and say they believe Stein is one of the few in the county to achieve the designation, which was standardized by the Tennessee Nursery and Landscape Association.
The test included identifying 100 plants in Latin and common form as well as answering 200 other written questions about soil, trees, plants, shrubs and even weeds.
“It literally was my whole four years of college in one exam. It was so thorough,” Stein added.
Knowledge like that can help in many areas, such as at the city’s new maintenance building at the Civic Center, where she hopes to plant thorns to help keep unauthorized personnel away.
The department has also developed strategic plantings for areas such as slopes that are otherwise difficult to maintain, and workers are looking forward to this spring to see if their labor has paid off.
“We’ve done so many areas, I’ve actually had to hold off because I want to make sure everything gets established,” Stein said. “I’m still new and this spring I’m hopeful. This spring will be the big showplace, and I’ll be able to judge better.”
Her goals are what one expects from a green thumb.
“I just like making the city look nicer. When people come from out of town, I want to drive through the city and show off all the plants,” she added.