Recent Happenings

I have not written much lately because until this past Monday, I was working in the same area (Tim's) for four weeks. Besides field trips, there wasn't a lot of new stuff to blog about. But now I am working with Joyce Rondinella in the Tropical Terrace, Cascade Garden, Palm House, and Joyce's backup house ("the hut"). I'm SO enjoying the new plant material, change of scenary, and an entirely different form of plant culture. I have taken lots of notes about each of these area in my notebook that I intend to copy onto the blog. We had a bromeliad talk with Joyce a few weeks ago, and this Tuesday's walk (again with Joyce) was about palms. Karl Gercens gave last week's plant walk, entitled "Poisonous Plants," where each of the 10 plants were in the Apocynacae family. I took lots of notes on that walk, too.
Today, I helped clean up the various houses, then continued the work I began yesterday afternoon on the computer. I was working in Adobe Photoshop to create a conceptual "mock-up" of 2010 Orchid Extravaganza displays for Joyce. I am quite proud that I produced some images that she's happy with, because I was a little unconfident in my abilities at first.
I helped Jim repot some ferns in the afternoon, and I also helped him apply compost tea to the largest palms in the Palm House. This is done every week, I believe.
I was curious, and looked up a little fact in the library: tenufolia, as in Maxillaria tenufolia or Tillansia tenufolia, means "narrow-leaf." Joyce has a great concept: the thought/word/plant of the day for students. With some people I've worked with previously, they were so focused on putting you on a task, and not passing along knowledge. Mr. du Pont put so much emphasis on education at Longwood, and I think it's great that some gardeners want to enstill that in the students. I will be working with Joyce the rest of the week, so I intend to learn lots more stuff (that I haven't already crammed in my notebook...).

A few notes

-We had a good Tuesday plant walk with Karl Gercens, who taught us about 10 poisonous plants (all in the Apocynacae family). I took lots of notes in my notebook for each of them. :)
-Did you know that the hibiscus and rose bed soils are tested every week (Monday morning) for pH, EC, etc? Soil is sent to a lab in Florida once every six months for a thourough testing of micro/macronutrients, too.
-A lady named Lee visited the water lily pools this week with her mother to paint the flowers, and she wanted to snag a photo of me to incorporate into her acrylic painting! Then she wanted me to write (in cursive) my whole schpeal I gave her on the Victorias on rice paper, because she inlays it into the painting! How cool. I think I want to buy it from her when she's finished, it would be such a great momento from Longwood.
-A photographer was taking photos in the lily pools and Patrick Nutt was there. We were all chatting, and he took my photo with Patrick. :) He got my email address, and is going to sent them to me. I hope I can brag about that photo one day. Haha
-We took a great field trip to Philly today to see the Eagles' and Philly's stadiums. We also took lots of pictures! We were on the fields and everything! Got back-stage (or under-stadium, rather) tours of the facilities, which was pretty neat. Did you know that they paint the logos and stuff on the field with huge stencils??? We learned about the practices they follow to keep the fields safe, green, playable, and beautiful. The two stadiums have a combination of sod, seed, and plugs for their bermuda grass. We went to Pat's (and Gino's) cheesesteaks for lunch, and I think the word is that Pat's won. It was delicous! You have to order it like so: "Eh, gimme uh mushroom pepper cheesesteak WIT [onions]--provolone." And that comes to $9. Then you put red hot sauce on it, and eat a screamin' green or red pepper on the side. Delish.
-Tomorrow is my last day of the full month I will have worked with Tim in the rose house (and lilies). Next week is with Joyce and the bromeliads! Yay!
-I made my third batch of wonderful banana nut bread with the sweet plantains in the banana house. This time I used chocolate shavings, too...

Great Thursday Field Trip!

I absolutely loved the trip to Emory Knolls Farms/Green Roof Plants this past Thursday! The owner, Ed, and his employee, Jamie, gave us a tour of the facilities there. First of all, you get a good idea for the nature of the people and the business from the composting toilet and the "hippy parking only" sign. :) They were so friendly, and explained the green roofing process to us. Green roofs began to emerge in Europe around 1950. The plants were all succulents from all around the world, because they are pretty much the only plants that can survive in the harsh environment of a rooftop. Green roofs cost about 2x the price of a regular roof, but the "cool" part about them is that they can reduce the temperature of the roof by about 100 degrees F! A typical nasty coated roof can get ~150 degrees F. Green roofs reduce runoff water (on which there are many many laws and regulations) by over 50%, by significantly increasing permeability. It also reduces the temperature of runoff water (if there is any) to a much cooler temperature. The hot runoff (in an urban area) carries a lot of gunk and pollutants as it moves across parking lots, building roofs, etc, which then flows into waterways like the Chesapeak Bay. At the least, this has a big impact on the wildlife.
Green roofs are also aesthetically pleasing, especially on a layered building where the roof is visible from higher stories. Ed and Green Roof Plants supplying the plants for the new veteran's hospital in Gulfport, MS (that was destroyed in Katrina). What a wonderful addition and service to supply to the veterans of our country who maybe are disabled--they have a beautiful peice of green to view from the window. Ed is also doing a lot of research for the government to trial the green roofs' applicability around the world. Many government buildings are currently green roof'ed.
The production houses are completely solar-powered, and are hand-watered to supplement some overhead nozzles. Along the tour, I gathered that conservation is a huge part of Green Roof's mission. They are not only reducing the energy "footprint" we make on the environment, but improving the community by returning plants to the area that was cleared of them to pop up a building.
I was SO excited during the tour, so inspired by the creativity, wise business strategy (nothing is bought on credit--in these times, no debt whatsoever is surprising), environmentally-friendly practices, and Ed's genius expressed throughout the property. There are six full-time employees. The size of the business is refreshing. I would LOVE to work there!!!

We also went to Ladew Gardens, which is another beautiful garden in the area, with lots of topiary work and fountains. They also have a lovely nature walk that takes about 45 minutes. Several benches, umbrella'd picnic tables, and cute bridges are scattered within the gardens. I learned about topiaries from a gentleman caring for a little dog in the "hunt scene," how you have to avoid the temptation of electric buzzing the shape you want. This practice doesn't preserve the frame of the plant for long, because the inner canopy leaves are too shaded. Hand pruning and thinning must be done to allow light to penetrate inward. The topiary that the gardener was working on was over 50 years old. :)

Chanticleer

Last week was the field trip to Chanticleer--which was amazing! While Longwood Gardens is so admirable for the history, spectacular specimins, educational program, and the support of the arts, Chanticleer stands out for its comfey, creative, modern-ish gorgeous gardens. I loved the pairs of cozy, decorative chairs scattered throughout the gardens. The plants aren't labeled or tagged for visitors (but for the maps that can be found nearby); the gardens are designed purely for gazing enjoyment. That is refreshing, just to sit and view the beautiful scenary... And the admission for the general public is quite inexpensive, and free to Longwood students! Every Friday, you're allowed to pick a spot and enjoy your picnic supper in the gardens. What a great idea! I really loved the visit, and will definitely come back.

I also covered for Tim last week, which I really enjoyed. I appreciated the opportunity to prove myself accountable and able to get the job done. The rose/hibiscus house looked wonderful when I left on Friday afternoon for Rehoboth Beach. Of course, it looked so messy this Monday morning...haha

Mr. Patrick Nutt

Oh, my goodness, I had no idea how HUGE it is that we have Mr. Patrick Nutt here at Longwood. He is claimed to be the "most authoritative and knowledgable person alive" by the International Water Lily Collection. WOW. The best person in the whole entire world to ask any question about water lilies is within my easy reach. And to top that, he introduced himself to me while I was working in the gardens one day! I knew that Pat was "something" when Ed Sommers told me Pat was a "walking encyclopedia," but it wasn't until I came home today from the lily pools to do some research on Eureali furox (according to Ed--huh???) that I realized the caliber of the man I so casually chat with at Longwood. I'm going to have a hard time not kissing his feet next time I see him.

Patrick Nutt: The Water Lily Man

Rose, Hibiscus, and Water Lilies

Worked in the rose/hibiscus house in the morning, water lilies in the afternoon. Lots of questions come from the visitors while we're in the pools. They want to know how deep the water is (although I don't really look 7 feet tall, and the water is clearly at my waist...), why the water is dyed, how often we get in there, what i'm doing (usually just cleaning up old leaves and flowers), etc. It's nice to talk to people, though, I really enjoy that part.

Water Lilies

I think it's a pretty tough call, to pick a favorite workplace between the water lilies/hibiscus/rose house and the orchids... I worked the majority of the past week with Tim and Ed, and I gained an enormous amount of knowledge about plants I've never grown before. The hibiscus are beautiful plants, they are so successful with them here at Longwood. I love the gorgeous cultivar, "Dark Night." Ed tests the soil pH once a week, because hibiscus are pH sensitive, and they also have the soil lab tested frequently. Hibiscus flowers are short-lived, only blooming a few days at best, and they're open at night as well. I want to learn more about the roses, and I will have a lot of opportunity to ask questions about roses next week when we do a huge pruning job on them. Each summer they are forced into dormancy, so as to not detract attention from the outdoor roses. It also gets really hot in that house during the summer. The roses currently have a huge aphid problem (some cultivars much worse than others...I wonder what the factor is that sets them apart.), but it's not worth treating them with anything more than a blast of water now because the cutback is coming up soon. They are quite beautiful, though, and very fragrant. Tim told me that Pierre du Pont built the rose house so that he would have a year-round supply of cut flowers, as he did so much entertaining.

The water lilies are so much fun! First of all, they're so beautiful and exotic, it's quite easy to love working on them. Also, I love working with plants and talking to people (instead of being cooped up in a greenhouse), and the water lily pools are a huge attraction in the conservatory. People are constantly asking questions when we're in the pools, and they are facinated by the work we're doing. The tropical lilies sit up higher above the water, have more fragrant blooms, and have more intense colors than the hardy lilies. The hardy lilies are beautiful as well, but I notice they have smaller (but more numerous) leaves than the tropicals. The lily bud comes up from the crown of the plant and opens with a lovely perfume and nectar in the well of the flower. This attracts a bee, beetle, or other bug, which falls into the well to get the nectar. In such a fuss for the insect to get out, the pollen from the anthers gets knocked into the liquid. The next time that the flower opens, the nectar has drained somewhat, causing the pollen to come into contact with the stigmatic portion of the flower, where pollination can occur. The flowers can be classified easily as "first day," "second day," "third" or "fourth-day flowers," based upon the position of the anthers and petals, the presence of nectar, and it's height in the water. The expired blooms retreat back underwater after the fourth day. One of our jobs in the pools is to remove old flowers, and this is an easy task because they give themselves away with a squeeze. If water comes out of the tip of the closed flower, it has already bloomed. The small leaves of the lilies are removed just as suckers are taken off to focus growth on larger leaves and flowers.

I have learned also about the lotus plant, especially about the "nano-technology" of the leaves. Water immediately beads up on the leaf surface and rolls off. The lotus is propagated at Longwood yearly by the tubers that are produced. Also, never cut the stem of the lotus leaf under the water: the "air tubes" in the stem can become flooded with water, and will eventually drown the plant. The bogs contain a lot of interesting plants like water lettuce, water hyacinth, parrot's feather plant, taro, canna, and ruellia.

I am very interested in the research that is performed here at Longwood on the giant water platters, Victoria. They grow in the Amazon and S. America, and a very special hybrid was created here (originally by Patrick). The cross is between V. crusiana and V. amazonica. So beautiful! They have vicious spines on the leaves and petioles, to protect themselves from nibblers, and the leaves can grow up to 8 feet in diameter! They can hold up to 125 lbs!!! with the support of plywood or other such material to distribute the weight. The leaves come up to the surface in their full-grown size, so right now (at the beginning of their "season," they were planted in May) the small leaves are being removed. The nocturnal blooms are only 2-nightflowers: the first night, they are white and smell of pineapple, and the female portion of the flower is dominant. The second night, the bloom is pink-red and the male portion is dominant. Ed says that this is to ensure that inbreeding and inferior mutations are avoided. Cross-pollination occurs because the male and female organs are not functioning on the same plant at the same time. Amazing!

Below is a picture of Ed, Tim, Gavin, and me moving the huge Victorias to the nursery pond. This involved removing them from the tanks in the greenhouse, carefully wrapping them in paper and cloth to keep them hydrated, moving them by cart to the truck, then unloading them into the water. This was a very careful operation since the leaves and petioles do not support themselves upward like a non-aquatic plant. It was very fun! The waders are great, they make me fearless to jump right in--literally! :)