M.G.s & Interns,
What a great week we have ahead for getting a lot of plant sale preparation accomplished at the garden. These morning temps in the 60’s should have everyone energized and motivated to be outdoors. If you haven’t been to the garden in a while, you may not recognize it after all the great help we’ve had over the last few weeks. Phyllis, Danita and Pat have been hard at work traveling around from Louisiana to Houston and points in between finding some great, beautiful plants for the sale. We have already gone through three large truckloads of mulch which Commissioner Brent Weaver has provided for us and at the risk of pushing his generosity, we have requested more. We express our appreciation to him at every opportunity and, if you know him, and happen to run into him, please do the same; we would really be in a bind without him.
Last week we cleaned up the area around the potting bench, on the side of the porch, by laying a solid surface under the bench which we extended all the way to the bathroom. This will make potting and propagation activities in this area a little easier and will also give more storage area under the bench for shade loving plants. This winter, when we are not so busy, we hope to extend the bench itself and build some type of shade cover over it which will give us the opportunity to use it as an outdoor classroom and demonstration area for the above mentioned activities, possibly even using it for classes for the MG course and even for public educational seminars.
Several recent visitors who have not seen the garden in a long time have commented on it’s “evolution”. This would not have been possible without all the hours, efforts and suggestions of so many of our MGs and interns and for this we are very appreciative and grateful. As you all know, gardening is always a work in progress and is never actually finished. Even though we’ve come a long way, there’s still much to do. With so much attention being paid to the front of the garden for the sale, we’ve kinda let the back beds containing the Earth Kind roses and fruit trees get scruffy looking; but, after seeing what was accomplished last week, I have no doubt that we can soon have them in top shape again. The roses give such beautiful fall blooms, and I know that visitors to the plant sale will be attracted to those beds so we want them to look their best.
If any interns or MGs who are not able to come on regular work days due to schedule conflicts would have some week end time, I would gladly set up a Saturday work day to tend to these beds; just let me know.
Thanks to all who have stepped up; the garden belongs to all of us and can only get better with the input and sharing of the hundreds of years of combined gardening knowledge within our organization. Come tell us what you think.
See you at the garden……….
The Garden Team