This morning, Donna had me water at the end of the Sweet Gum Allée in the four beds surrounding the sculpture “Samara Turning in the Wind,” and around the Maltese cross pool in the Round Garden. These areas (well, almost all of Donna’s areas) can get extremely hot in the afternoon, as they are on the south side of the house.
Donna helped to put watering plants into perspective for me. Sure, we have all watered plants at one point or another but Donna said that the average Joe’s definition of “watering” is waving the wand over top of the bed half a dozen times. Poor watering like this tends to show in the plants: smaller size, less flowers, shallower root system. How much water a plant needs is determined by the type of plant and the size of its roots (or root ball).
To give one an idea, here’s a general list of what needs the most amount of water to the least:
- Trees
- Shrubs
- Perennials
- Annuals
We then moved on to the East Terrace to remove the last of the Agapanthus because of the Staff Picnic we will be having tomorrow. We dead-headed them and moved them to the greenhouse area, and went back to the terrace to clean up the spent flowers. I also ended up watering as well as dead-heading the hibiscus, and watered the Joe Pye Weed.
Before lunch, we potted up two Hydrangea quercifolia (oak-leaf hydrangea) ‘Little Honey’ in the greenhouse. They have the most beautiful chartreuse leaves. We brought a third plant to shadier side of the East Terrace to brighten it up.
After lunch, we visited the Lilac Allée to weed and water.
When afternoon break was over, Pete went over the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), or the Hazard Communication Safety Training. OSHA(Occupational Safety and Health Administration) states that every employee has the right to have a safe work environment, and that employers are required to train employees about potential hazards on the job, methods to prevent accidents or incidents, where eyewash stations are, etc. For more information, check out OSHA’s website at http://www.osha.gov/workers.html.
After Pete was done with me, I went back to Donna and we retreated at the end of the day to the kennel to sort accession labels by bed numbers to make it easier when the time comes to label the plant material.
Nice blog post, Jess. I look forward to seeing what else you’re up to in the Triad! Dr. Lyons