Ben and Dan Oct 18-20

Weekend Practical ,Cuddy Gardens, Oct 18-20 , 2013 Dan Grady, Ben Hickey

Our first day at Cuddy started off well despite the cold, first thing we did was meet up with Lucas and went over the tasks and went for a walk to explain and give examples in greater detail. The first task we took on was to clean up the debris from the walnut and apple trees that surround the rock garden beside the house, this task was rushed because Eric who was cutting the grounds grass needed to cut that area we went over it a second time later in the day. Secondly we went after and pruned the Liquidambars at the front of the house just for dead limbs this did not take long we did however find other branches and debris around the gardens and collected them.

 

 

 

 

After a fifteen minute break we decided to go dead head the day lilies and weed the iris at the iris border at the front of the property again we were In the way of Eric cutting the grass so we had to save the rest of the task till after lunch and we just watered and weeded the nursery stock instead.

 

The Saturday was rainy, but we had a lot of work to do , especially on the Iris garden. We finished the edging at the iris garden the best we could do to the circumstances with the weather. So while hoping for the weather to cooperate a little better we did some housekeeping tasks Lucas assigned us in the tool shed  if it were to rain and also worked on the plant profile. The rain started to ease off so we decided to do a few tasks before the day was over, so we grabbed some rakes and headed over to the woodland garden to rake. Only problem was all the wind shaking the trees and making us extremely more wet also with the ground being wet we were taking up a lot of the mulch on the walk way as well.

 

Our last day at Cuddys and like yesterday it was a cold one , we started the day by finishing off the Iris garden  edging , using the Dutch hoe and making it look nice . This task was little difficult because it rained the previous day and this made the soil very muddy. So I worked away on that and Ben took the leaf blower and cleared off the walkways and driveway of leaves I think he enjoyed himself. We took our lunch break to get some much needed energy, our last task of the day was doing some last touches on the Iris garden and cleaning up the rock garden and other areas.

 

 

 

Plant Profile  Ben Hickey , Dan Grady

                                      

                               Cary glabra  ( pignut Hickory)

   Ben and Dan’s opinion :  An all and all nice tree, not too showy but still pretty with it rich green foliage and thick ridged trunk, good for most landscapes , beautiful fall color and a good tree in any environment .

 

 

Family –   Juglandaceae

Genus –  Cary

Species –  glabra

Category – Woody

Type –  Tree (deciduous)

Origin-  Native

Propagation – Seeds should be soaked in water , you should also plant in 3 gallon pots

Habitat – Hillsides , Climax forests , also ridges

Shape – Tapering trunk and a slender controlled branches

Growth – Tree can reach 60-50 ft in height , and 25-30 in spread

Flowering Period – May

Cultivation – Tree prefers well drained to dry , fairly rich soils

Pests –  Tent caterpillars

Notable specimens –

ID Characteristics – Tree has 5-6 leaflets, Green sharped toothed ovate leaves , entire leaf is 8-12 inches long 

General Description – Tree is large with light green leaves compound foliage

Flower Description – Flowers are monoecious male has 7.5 drooping catkin , female has few flowering terminal spikes

Bark Description – Tree has smooth grey brown bark on young specimens , eventually bark shapes into diamond pattern

Leaf Description – 5-7 leaflets each leaflets is 3-6 inches long , and 1-2 wide

Texture Description -

Color Description – Tree has lovely green foliage in the summer and a nice gold yellow in spring

Sources

 

-          Manual of Woody landscape plants 6^th edition Michael A Dirr

-          "Canada Plants." • Carya Glabra (Pignut Hickory). N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.