Friday, May 27, 2016

As we get closer and closer to The A.M Cuddy Open Gardens weekend on June 4th and 5th, the team is working together to make the gardens looks as pristine as possible. Due to the Victorian day weekend we didn't start the work week until Tuesday when we used all our forces to tackle the garden beds at the front of the house. There was weeding and edging to be done to make the area feel tidy and welcoming, and the final result is exactly that.
Newly edged border

On Wednesday, we moved into the Magnolia garden for continued weeding and edging along the outside border As well as tackling some ivy that creeped it's way up the fence that separates that Magnolia garden from the perennial border. As an added bonus, the Cucumber Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata, also Canada's only native Magnolia) was in bloom.
Cucumber Magnolia flower

After lunch we were tasked with digging up some ferns that were growing outside of their group, then potted them up and placed them into the greenhouse #2. One all the ferns were potted up, I took some time to spot water greenhouse #2 and water in the plants we had just potted. Once I was finished with that task, I went to meet up with everyone else and we spent the end of the day pulling some particularly vigorous weeds out of the rose garden border.
Thursday started out with a couple of us going out to the front of the property to change the sign so it advertised our big event, The A.M Cuddy Open Gardens which includes a plant sale, tours, and other horticulture related activities. Once finished we moved onto weeding and pulling hundreds of tiny tree seedlings that planted themselves underneath a large tree. After lunch, we moved but into the Magnolia garden, but this time we weeded and edged the inner borders of the beds and spent the rest of the day there.

Cucumber Magnolia and some new borders

Friday morning was spent planting new plants along the road border at the front of the property. We planted a few different species such as: Hypericum (St John's Wort), four different cultivars of Physocarpus (Ninebark), Spiraea, Viburnum and a single new Butterfly Magnolia. Once finished we needed to accession them so we can keep a record of all plants on the property. As soon as the new plantings were recorded, I went and helped in the Woodland Garden by weeding and raking the path smooth and removing any debris. The time after lunch was spent setting up a unique feature, our antique tool collection has been placed in one of the rooms of the house for the visitors of the open gardens to explore. Once we were done with the tool display, we spent the remaining time of Friday writing out the accessioning tags for the new plants that were planted earlier in the day.
Clair de Lune Peony


Once the open garden weekend rolls around, everyone who visits will be in awe of it's spectacular beauty and diverse collection.




Iris
 

Friday, May 20, 2016

It is the week before the Victoria day long weekend, where Spring waves it's hand queenly to the rise of Summer, we put our hands on forks to dig deep in the beginning of the week on the hunt for the souls who relish in Cuddy Garden's vitality the most... Dandelions and Thistles.

Monday and Tuesday we tackled Cuddy's front entrance beds, subtle displays of the wonders that grow here. The weeds were ripped out right to the tips of their roots and even that wasn't enough for leading show stopper Yujing Ma, who dug twice as deep and eradicated the subterranean thistle root network as best as one hero can.

By the end of Tuesday the entrance beds was clear enough to apply mulch, and mulch we did. Trailers full, wheel barrows, and our hands filled with true grit we forked, tossed, and raked the mulch to a level of perfection that it will take Michael Pascoe at least a full minute to find something wrong with... ha ha. 

Wednesday we had had so much fun by this point that it was time for edging the garden beds on both sides of the road in front of the house instead, which went well.

Thursday, projected to become a day of drawl apathy saw us embracing safety practices in a competent and enthusiastic manner. We all battled for the best time during the fire extinguisher safety game. Nate McKim stole the gold with an astonishing 2.1 seconds and many lives saved.

Friday has been a day to prepare for Queen Victoria's long weekend celebrations. The lawn was mowed, the plants in the garden were tended to but now finally the A.M. Mac Cuddy collection of Tropical and non-hardy plants are ready to flourish outside for the summer months. Out from the pool house, kitchen, living room, and elsewhere and into the fresh air to be given a generous amount of water to last them the three day span till staff returns on Tuesday.


This Garden has a bold energy, the feeling of timelessness through every carefully placed foot step, and a vitality beyond blooms that embolden the depths of a calm spirit.






After the excitement and rush of the Shunpiker tour were over, the MAC Cuddy gardens were back in full swing preparing the ground for the upcoming June open gardens.  Over this week our staff tackled all different tasks to keep the grounds and garden beds looking their best, our staff started the week with cleaning up the beds in front of the Cuddys main buildings and their beds by the road. After the beds were cleaned up and weed free, we moved on to reseeding the area to the magnolia garden.  An irrigation line broke last year and flooded the area, this resulted in most of the grass being killed in that area. With the open garden only a few weeks away this gave us a chance to pot up some plant that will be sold at the plant sales in June. Towards the end of the week we focused our attentions on the Rose Garden and the Iris border, this two beds had new weeds popping up in them along with some edging mantance on the Rose Garden.

 

 If you were to take a stroll through the gardens right now you’ll find that it’s a shower of different blues, white, yellows and pinks. In the Rock garden the Gentiana angustifolia and the Polygala chamaebuxus both in bloom, inside our woodland garden its alive with the deep hues of pink from the Red Buds and around the ground with the truilis in bloom. There are many more exciting plants that are about to bloom such as the fern leaf peony, which was a huge hit last year at our plants sales. But a tree that steals the show is the bald cypress. The bald cypress is a semi decodies tree and looks like an evergreen with needle like foliage, the bark is a rusty colour with a pealing effected to it. At the June open gardens remember to take a walk down to the bald cypress which is located at the excited to the manigola gardens and the entranced to the Iris’s bordered area.

 

On the last day of the week our staff cleans all the tools so there ready for use on Monday and throung the new weeks.  This week our irrigation system was tested and approved for use, which is a very good thing .Finally four o clock on Friday rolled around, the beds were clean, tools away and hop houses were water. We looked around the gardens at all the work we’ve done over the week and smiled to ourselves as we closed the barn door, ending yet another amazing week at MAC Cuddy Gardens.Don’t forget to check the blog weekly for all sorts of updates about our amazing gardens and what you can find blooming right now in the gardens.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Preparation Pandemonium

It's been an exciting week here at the A.M. Cuddy Gardens. The birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing, and of course the dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) are popping up everywhere! Unfortunately dandelions do not happen to be part of our botanical collection here at the Cuddy Gardens and therefor must be promptly removed by student gardeners such as myself. Some other advantageous species which were subject to our early-spring purge include the Canada thistle, bitter-wort, and the lovely but opportunistic grape hyacinth.

grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)
Photo Credit: Yujing Ma



Removal of undesirable species was not the only task required this week. Many other tasks were completed in order to prepare for our upcoming weekend event. This involved a full-out beautification and spring cleaning of the gardens. Many garden borders were tended to, and copious amounts of debris were added to the already large compost pile. by the middle of the week; things were really starting to come together in terms of tidiness.


Newly Cleaned Edge Near the House
Photo Credit: Yujing Ma



A View of the Tidy Lawn
Photo Credit Yujing Ma

On Wednesday morning, all nine student gardeners had a very educational experience participating in equipment training. It's important to make sure you and your crew are safety conscious on the job and equipment training is an important aspect of that. We wouldn't want anyone using a leaf blower inappropriately now; would we‽
On  the same afternoon, we began our planting endeavor which would require the remainder of the week to finish. We potted-up a variety of species mainly for the commercial greenhouse. This is excellent news for whomever may be reading this as now you (the reader) are aware that Cuddys is your next stop for hostas, peonys, anamones, echinacea and so very much more. 
 
Although the work needed to be completed in a timely manner (as all garden projects seem to require) this week went by much too fast. I look forward to my next week of work here at Cuddys, and I can not wait to see how the garden has transformed when I return in June.