Randi and Doug's weekend

Spring 2013, April 5th-7th 2013.

Randi Brooks and Doug Lawler

Friday April 5th, 2013

Spring has arrived at Cuddy Gardens and now it is time to prepare the lawn by removing thatch and spreading compost soil. For the first part of our morning we were doing just that- spreading a layer of compost soil around the brick work in the ground at the front of Cuddy gardens. After lunch we helped Lucas start building a new compost bin. It is much larger than our last one. When the posts were up for the compost bin we then went over to help the other group of students lay sod down.

Saturday April 6th, 2013

Since spring is here, we had to take down and roll up all the snow fence, as well make sure there were no more posts in the yard from snow fence that had already been taken down. We took down all the burlap around the trees in the rose garden and raked up the bean pods near the drive way. We also collected all the rodent traps and cleaned them out and packed them away for next winter.

Sunday April 7th, 2013

Sunday was a day full of mulching. We mulched the woodland garden and made the paths a little larger. We also raked and picked up any large sticks or debris off the lawns. We power washed all the tools are machinery so that they are nice and clean for the next class. Randi’s dog Ashby came for the day and had a great time.

Plant Profile

Helleborus orientalis

Lenten Rose

Family- Ranunculaceae

Genus- Helleborus

Species- orientalis

Common Name- Lenten Rose

Category- Perennials

Type- Herbaceous Perennial

Canadian Hardiness Zone- 4 to 9

Landscape- Group in woodland gardens, shady locations or incorporate into a naturalized area.

Native- Notheastern Greece, Northeastern Turkey.

Habitat- Woodlands

Growth- Slow

Flowering period- March to May

Propagation- By seed or vegetative propagation

Light requirements- Part shade to full sun

Water requirements- Medium

Flower description- Showy pink/purple flowers

Leaf description- Deep green leathery green basal leaves.

Pests- Not affected by many pests.

Notable specimen- Cuddy Gardens in the woodland garden.

References

"Gardening Help." Missouri Botanical Garden. N.p.. Web. 7 Apr 2013.
Brickell, Christopher, and H.Marc Cathey. A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants . New York, NY: DK Publishing INC, 2004. 509-510. Print.