Weekend at Cuddy’s
September 25 – 27, 2015
Kate Deml and Yujing Ma
I had never been to Cuddy’s until last year when I was a fresh first year and recently as a (hopefully) wiser second year. Both times I was here for Hortfest, (our ritual gathering of the Fanshawe College, Horticulture enthusiasts) meaning that I spent more time doing activities, socializing with first and second years, and trying on clothes, (for our fabulous uniforms). When I was a first year we did get a small tour from our program coordinator, Michael Pascoe, but unfortunately since then I haven’t had much time to come back and look at the gardens. The opportunity weekend duty presented me, not only gave me a chance to see the gardens again, but also allowed me to get some hands on experience.
On the first day of duty my partner Yujing and I watered the plants on the patio. This included all the hanging baskets, the potted plants, and two trees that I believe were recently planted. We then worked on watering the hoop house plants, which I continued to work on while Yujing went to get the RTV and start work on pruning the perennial garden. During my time watering I found a Pinus strobus ‘Pendula’ (Weeping Eastern White Pine) which is one of my favourite evergreens (both the weeping form and straight species) as well as a cultivar called Pinus strobus ‘Louie.’ I had never heard of the cultivar ‘Louie’ it was quite fetching and a new plant to add to my plant I.D cards.
When I was finished with watering I headed over to the perennial garden and took over pruning from Yujing so she could go and mow the lawn. I had never used a push mow before, so it was for the best that Yujing did this task since she had experience from working at Cuddy’s over the summer. Pruning the perennials was an entertaining experience as I got to witness the bees at work pollinating and I got to feel like a professional working in my field for the first time. Once that was finished I headed over to the rose garden to get started on weeding the rose garden, while Yujing finished up mowing the lawn and began cutting back the Pennisetums, and pulling out some of the Nicotiana since it was starting to take over the dry garden.
The next day, we started our morning by digging out plants that were to be brought inside in preparation for the upcoming frost. These plants included, Pennistums, Canna Lilies, Euphorbia cotinifolia (Caribbean Copper Plant), Phormiums (Flax) and a cactus (I’m sorry I am unaware what type of cactus). Once we finished digging the plants out we took them over to where the soil was and repotted them, then we transferred them over to one of the hoop houses and gave them a much needed drink of water.
Afterwards we started working on placing some of the potted succulents and cacti into bulb crates; then transported them over to the garage via the RTV. I got to drive the RTV which was quite exciting since I only ever got to drive an RTV during maintenance class and only for a few minutes. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do more of it in the future. We then spent the rest of the day working on weeding more of the rose garden, which took up the rest of our day.
For our final day of weekend duty at Cuddy’s, Yujing and I watered the patio plants again, including hanging baskets and pots. We then proceeded in finishing weeding the rose garden as there were quite a few weeds, some of them particularly stubborn to pull out. Our next task was then to weed the perennial garden, which also had accumulated quite a batch of weeds. While I was working on uprooting a particularly nasty weed, I heard a scream emit from Yujing. I was of course concerned for her well-being since her shout was quite loud, but thankfully it had only been a frog that landed on her arm. She had been so intent on weeding that when the frog jumped on her she was completely startled from the impact. Needless to say I had a good laugh and the frog and Yujing were unharmed, and that event was the highlight of my day.
Weeding the perennial garden took quite a bit of time, but we persevered and conquered those blights to society. We then got a little break from weeding as we worked on throwing apples from the apple tree into the woodland area to be used as fertilizer, and swept the pathways. Next was checking the plants at the hoop house and watering them, before heading over to the hatchery barn to do some more weeding. As the final hour descended upon us we cleaned the RTV, put back all the equipment, locked the tool shed and said goodbye (for now) to the Cuddy Gardens.
In conclusion, our weekend at the gardens was valuable experience as weeding is important to reduce unsightly, unwanted plants that deprive wanted plants of nutrients and water. Watering is needed to promote growth and a healthy, happy plant, and transplanting helps protect plants from the cold weather of winter. This also includes the cacti and succulents.
September 25 – 27, 2015
Kate Deml and Yujing Ma
I had never been to Cuddy’s until last year when I was a fresh first year and recently as a (hopefully) wiser second year. Both times I was here for Hortfest, (our ritual gathering of the Fanshawe College, Horticulture enthusiasts) meaning that I spent more time doing activities, socializing with first and second years, and trying on clothes, (for our fabulous uniforms). When I was a first year we did get a small tour from our program coordinator, Michael Pascoe, but unfortunately since then I haven’t had much time to come back and look at the gardens. The opportunity weekend duty presented me, not only gave me a chance to see the gardens again, but also allowed me to get some hands on experience.
On the first day of duty my partner Yujing and I watered the plants on the patio. This included all the hanging baskets, the potted plants, and two trees that I believe were recently planted. We then worked on watering the hoop house plants, which I continued to work on while Yujing went to get the RTV and start work on pruning the perennial garden. During my time watering I found a Pinus strobus ‘Pendula’ (Weeping Eastern White Pine) which is one of my favourite evergreens (both the weeping form and straight species) as well as a cultivar called Pinus strobus ‘Louie.’ I had never heard of the cultivar ‘Louie’ it was quite fetching and a new plant to add to my plant I.D cards.
When I was finished with watering I headed over to the perennial garden and took over pruning from Yujing so she could go and mow the lawn. I had never used a push mow before, so it was for the best that Yujing did this task since she had experience from working at Cuddy’s over the summer. Pruning the perennials was an entertaining experience as I got to witness the bees at work pollinating and I got to feel like a professional working in my field for the first time. Once that was finished I headed over to the rose garden to get started on weeding the rose garden, while Yujing finished up mowing the lawn and began cutting back the Pennisetums, and pulling out some of the Nicotiana since it was starting to take over the dry garden.
The next day, we started our morning by digging out plants that were to be brought inside in preparation for the upcoming frost. These plants included, Pennistums, Canna Lilies, Euphorbia cotinifolia (Caribbean Copper Plant), Phormiums (Flax) and a cactus (I’m sorry I am unaware what type of cactus). Once we finished digging the plants out we took them over to where the soil was and repotted them, then we transferred them over to one of the hoop houses and gave them a much needed drink of water.
Afterwards we started working on placing some of the potted succulents and cacti into bulb crates; then transported them over to the garage via the RTV. I got to drive the RTV which was quite exciting since I only ever got to drive an RTV during maintenance class and only for a few minutes. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do more of it in the future. We then spent the rest of the day working on weeding more of the rose garden, which took up the rest of our day.
For our final day of weekend duty at Cuddy’s, Yujing and I watered the patio plants again, including hanging baskets and pots. We then proceeded in finishing weeding the rose garden as there were quite a few weeds, some of them particularly stubborn to pull out. Our next task was then to weed the perennial garden, which also had accumulated quite a batch of weeds. While I was working on uprooting a particularly nasty weed, I heard a scream emit from Yujing. I was of course concerned for her well-being since her shout was quite loud, but thankfully it had only been a frog that landed on her arm. She had been so intent on weeding that when the frog jumped on her she was completely startled from the impact. Needless to say I had a good laugh and the frog and Yujing were unharmed, and that event was the highlight of my day.
Weeding the perennial garden took quite a bit of time, but we persevered and conquered those blights to society. We then got a little break from weeding as we worked on throwing apples from the apple tree into the woodland area to be used as fertilizer, and swept the pathways. Next was checking the plants at the hoop house and watering them, before heading over to the hatchery barn to do some more weeding. As the final hour descended upon us we cleaned the RTV, put back all the equipment, locked the tool shed and said goodbye (for now) to the Cuddy Gardens.
In conclusion, our weekend at the gardens was valuable experience as weeding is important to reduce unsightly, unwanted plants that deprive wanted plants of nutrients and water. Watering is needed to promote growth and a healthy, happy plant, and transplanting helps protect plants from the cold weather of winter. This also includes the cacti and succulents.
