The Cup Half-Full

Hello there!

Its been a couple weeks since my last blog and the New York City Trip, but I have one last thing to share with y'all about the trip! The three other interns and I were asked to give a presentation to all the staff once we returned to show them our experience. Here is a link to the powerpoint presentation we came up with!
NYC Presentation

In these couple weeks following our trip we've done many jobs and a lot of work, at the garden and elsewhere. Here is a brief description of some of them.

PRODUCTION CENTER

We, Rachel and myself, have spent a lot of time with the garden's grower in the production center, which is the greenhouse and nursery area of the garden. We spent majority of one day up-potting (a term I learned recently from the grower meaning, to transplant a plant to a larger pot once it is ready/has overgrown it's current smaller pot). Periodically, throughout these past two weeks, we've also helped with sowing seeds, propagating cuttings and making divisions. Below is a picture of just a small amount of the day lilies we worked on. 

LARGE EQUIPMENT TRAINING

My fellow Interns and I also underwent large equipment training on a small and large Kubota tractor as well as a Genie Boom lift.

GROW MOORE

Grow Moore is an event held at the garden where fellow growers and nursery/botanical garden owners may come and explore the garden, take cuttings, and learn from each other. We were able to assist these guests throughout the garden during this event.

SAVANNAH RIVER SITE COLLECTING TRIP
Rachel and I had a really cool opportunity to go on a collecting trip with the garden's director and plant recorder at the Savannah River Site. Savannah River Site is a nuclear reservation originally built in the 50s to refine nuclear materials. Their focus is to protect public health and the environment in hopes of transformation into future use. Why this place was really neat for us to visit is due to the fact that much of the site's natural areas haven't been touched in over sixty years. This kind of preservation allows for some of South Carolina's rare native species to be present along with a plethora of other plants. A few we were out looking for were Baptisia lanceolata, Coreopsis rosea, Styrax grandiflora, Nestronia umbellule, and many more! Here is the only picture I have from the trip, (I never took my phone far from the car as we were walking through all kinds of swamps, brush, and forests) unfortunately it is not of plants but it was one of the the many wildlife creatures we observed that day. 

A TURTLE!

*I wish I would have captured a picture of my favorite area of the site. It was a huge swampy area right on the river where we went walking through the muck and all over and around Bald Cypress knees. I had never seen them in real life before and there were millions everywhere. It was super cool!*

POLLARDING/PLEACHING

There is a curved hedge of Sycamore trees near the Welcome Center of the garden. The garden recently decided they wanted that hedge to have a pollarded/pleached look. A few other horticulturists had cut them back a couple times before but they had grown many feet since, passing those frame cuts. Rachel and I were assigned to tame them all back to their previous cuts, encouraging fuller growth and growth more towards each other in a hedge-like fashion.

CALLING ALL PLANTAHOLICS

Calling all plantaholics was a class the garden offered to help gardeners find plant sources in the area as well as from all over the country. They provided a list of nurseries, bulb/seed companies, and greenhouses they use to purchase plant material from. Following this, the class attendees were taken out and into the garden to learn how to take divisions of these four plants, Cannas, Muhly grass, Mums, and Dasylirion. Myself and the other interns assisted throughout the class, especially with the divisions portion. 

CHARLESTON

The interns and I traveled to Charleston with the garden's head horticulturist and one of the horticulturists to work on a property they manage there. CHARLESTON IS BEAUTIFUL, so was the garden we worked in. The two major accomplishments of the trip were replacing a turf section in one area and planting a mature palm within the garden. We also did a lot of cleaning up, such as weeding and cutting back of overgrown plant material. Apart from the palm, our biggest planting, we planted numerous other plants throughout and re-mulched all the beds. It was a busy two days but really fun and in an exciting location! Here are a few pictures of the garden we worked on. 

CUT FLOWER GARDEN
One day, Rachel and I spent most of our time cleaning up the Cut Flower Garden. We planted some and weeded a whole lot. However, everything was full and blooming it was gorgeous. I took a few pictures to share here below.










FARMERS MARKET
Another intern and I represented Moore Farms at the local, Lake City Farmers Market selling day lilies and tomato plants!

BAY LAUREL HEDGE
I have mentioned this project before, but briefly I'll give a short description. This hedge surrounds three areas of the garden. Recently it has developed a scale problem so we've been doing an insecticide experiment with it's eight sections (using a different type of insecticide for each section to determine which eliminates the scale best). Rachel and I applied the first treatment a couple weeks ago and this past week the hedge was due for its second treatment, which we applied as well. Here is a picture of us in the process.  

STAY TUNED
This past week marked the half-way point of my time here and as crazy as that sounds, it has been seven weeks. The time has flown by and unfortunately I don't see it slowing down anytime soon. Luckily, i'm optimistic and am choosing to see this situation as the cup being half-full. I still have seven more wonderful weeks here so stay tuned for all that's to come!

NYC Intern Trip

HOWDY FRIENDS,
Today marks a whole month I've been here at Moore Farms and that seems unbelievable to me. It has been such a wonderful time of learning experiences, hard work, and friendships. I only hope the next two months don't fly by like this one has, but either way I will make the most of everyday be it fast or slow!
Each summer Moore Farms Botanical Garden take their interns and a few staff on a trip. For the interns, it is a way to see and explore gardens in other areas of the United States as well as make connections with professionals in our field for future opportunities. For their staff members, attending the trip serves as staff development and way for them to also see and experience varies gardens of different areas.
This summer the intern trip was to New York City, New York! We left early Wednesday, June 10th and came back late Saturday, June 14th. However before I get more into the exciting details of our trip I want to share what Rachel, the other horticulture intern, and I did in the garden before we left Wednesday.

Early this past spring, there was a pretty large ice storm that passed through South Carolina, damaging the garden a great deal. Over a hundred trees were lost. The rest of spring was spent recovering and removing all the fallen and damaged trees from the garden. Replacing these trees has been the horticulturists main task for the past month. The very last trees of the large tree order they brought in were left for Rachel and I to put in. Let me tell you, they weren't little baby saplings. These were mature trees, Hollies to be specific. The Hollies came in what they refer to as B&B's, bald and burlapped. It is way of transplanting large trees where the rootball is wrapped in burlap, which holds in moisture and keeps the rootball from oxygen exposure during transplant. Once an appropriate sized hole is dug, it can be placed right in. With the removal of a small amount of burlap around the crown of the tree and one third of the way down the root ball and filling in the hole of fresh soil, you should be all set.
That was exactly what Rachel and I did. It took a whole day plus the help of a couple crew workers and a tractor, but we did it. We created a nice large screen of eight Holly trees at the back of the garden's nursery area. It was a task neither of us had ever seen or done before but a great one to experience! Below is a picture.

Another project we took on this past week, before leaving for our trip, was part of a long term project I shared before, the Bay Laurel hedges. I mentioned the scale problem and the gardens experimental route in finding the best insecticide to use in solving that problem. So Tuesday, Rachel and I set about in the first steps of it. We were given seven different insecticides and one horticulture oil to spray individually on the eight sections of the hedge. This was another all day task as we wanted to do a very thorough job in spraying and cleaning the water tank in between each type in order to obtain more accurate results. In two weeks the process will be repeated and a few weeks following the second treatment new samples will be taken from each hedge section to determine which insecticide worked best in comparison to the first samples taken before the insecticide application.

Now to NYC!
WEDNESDAY

• The High Line

The High Line was wonderful! It is a 1.45 miles stretch of public park located in Manhattan on an old rail line that is elevated above street level, admits the buildings. It is the perfect urban style garden for New York City, as everyone is constantly walking from one place to another surrounded by nothing but building after building. This creates a strip of garden to enjoy while going about your business. I absolutely loved it! I am very passionate about the importance of nature in people's lives and seeing this functional green space in such a condensed city brought me much joy.

THURSDAY

• Queens Botanical Garden
• Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Queens Botanical Garden was great, I valued its passion and sustainability most. It was one of the smaller, less funded and profitable gardens we visited. However it was enormously geared towards public involvement, learning, community. With incomparable environmental practices, children's programs, and community services, this garden can not be overlooked. 

Brooklyn Botanical Garden was beautiful and  much larger in size and development. With numerous large sectioned gardens, such as the herb, rose, rock, children's, and native gardens, you could easily spend a full day plus some exploring. My favorite were their three conservatories (tropical, desert and warm template) and their famous Bonsai collection! 

 

FRIDAY

• Wave Hill
• New York Botanical Garden

Wave hill was BEAUTIFUL! It was probably my favorite of the gardens because of it's romantic and intimate feel. It is a smaller public garden located in the Bronx right on the Hudson River with a view of the Palisades beyond the river. It is definitely in the top five most beautiful places I have ever seen. The garden has many different areas but they all flow together nicely, rich in design. Art also plays a major role in this garden, as Wave Hill is also referred to as a culture center. They have an art gallery and host a multitude of fine art events throughout the year. I love this garden's connection of nature and the arts. 

The New York Botanical Garden, also located in the Bronx, is by far the largest and most impressive of the New York City gardens. It is the most well known and about two hundred and fifty acres in size, making it the largest. We spent four hours there and probably only saw half of the garden. It contains historic buildings, huge production centers, a conservatory, forests, and even offers a continuing education and graduate studies program. Yet that is only a handful of what the garden possesses. 

  

                      

                    

SATURDAY

• Central Park

Central Park is a major highlight of New York City. We spent the whole morning walking all throughout it. It was full of people and life! I felt the same joy I felt about the High Line for the Central Park. Incorporating nature and green space into such an urban area is extremely necessary and the amount of people enjoying that area on a day to day basis is proof of that. 

So that was our trip, super exciting and busy! We also checked out a lot of the fun touristy things in the evenings. I hope you liked the photos and I hope one day you all can make it out to the wonderful gardens of New York City! You won't regret it!

STAY TUNED

It is always a mystery what we will be doing in the garden every week but one exciting thing I can give y'all a sneak peak on is the Savannah River Site! Rachel and I will be going to the Savannah River Site with our Garden Director, Ethan to collect plants and explore the historic site. It is a very unique opportunity and we are thrilled to partake, stay tuned to hear all about it!

Growing at the Garden

Hello again!
It's been a couple short weeks since I last checked in and I thought I would share what I have been up to lately.

WEEK 3
At the beginning of my third week I was assigned an important task. I was to drive a company vehicle (a large diesel truck) to a nursery in North Carolina (about four hours away) to pick up and fit 67 Hydrangea quercifolia 'Munchkin' plants in the truck for transport back to the garden. Needless to say it was a bit stressful but in all, a very successful trip. The next day I was able to plant them in a great spot in the garden that I hope to see one day in the future, when their full growth and beauty within the design will be displayed. The rest of my week was spent clearing out old plant material and weeds from the formal garden, as the end of May is the transition time from cool season/spring annuals to summer annuals.

    Ashley (Education intern) and I were the only interns here for the past few weeks but the weekend after my third week the remaining two showed up:  Rachel (the other Horticulture Intern) and Eva (GIS Intern). It was an exciting, busy time as we were helping them move in and all getting to know each other. We definitely have a full house now with all four of us here but there's never a dull moment! We are all from different areas of the United States and studying/studied different things so sharing experiences and knowledge is really fun. I was also very excited to have another horticulture intern to work with throughout the summer.

WEEK 4  
Beginning week four, business-wise, we had a couple meetings pertaining to the intern trips we will take throughout the summer and one on how to use the Garden's database for plant recording and observations etc.  Work-wise, for Rachel and I, the week was spent continuing the clearing out of old plant material and weeding throughout the garden in this almost ending transition season. But a few larger and more fun projects we started this past week was redesigning and planting around the security house and collecting allium seeds.
   Projects:
The security house is located at the front of the gardens, where a lot of traffic entering the garden passes through. Rachel and I were assigned to clear out all the beds surrounding the house of weeds and over grown or dying plant material and to find replacement plant material that would endure the summer conditions. The first step, clearing out the beds, took a very full long long day. However the next day made up for the previous day's hard work, as we were allowed to choose and plant appropriate plants and design the look of the beds. Here are few pictures of this project in motion.

Here are some of the plants we chose: Zinnia elegans 'Inca Giant', Coreopsis, and Acalpha 'Inferno'.

Here is a bed we filled with different cultivars of Hypoestes.

Here is a picture of part of the front entrance bed filled with rose bushes and Zinnia elegans 'Inca Giant' along the fence line. 

Another small project we began at the end of the week was collecting Allium 'Red Beard' flower spikelets. The picture below is what they look like. Usually they are a cool fun color but as they begin to die they turn this tan brown color and eventually dehisce and little black seeds fall out. Rachel and I collected six small brown bags full of these spikelets and left them to dry and dehisce over the weekend so next week we can more easily separate the seed and plant them some time in the future. 

DAYLILIES
As for my summer long daylily project, they've been blooming like crazy! Atleast ten a day have been popping open into a vibrant bloom. So far, I've recorded over a hundred and twenty. A few of my favorite blooms over these past weeks are below. 

Hemerocallis 'Karen My Love'

Hemerocallis 'Ivory Ice'

Hemerocallis 'Daring Dilemma'

STAY TUNED
This week is our big intern trip to New York City! We have a bunch of really cool things planned that I can't wait to share them with you next weekend once we're back! :)