Adam K, Katlyn V

Friday April 18^th 2014

It was a lovely morning, Adam and I started off with filling in the ruts around the property. This required us to kick back the turf and soil to where it originally was. We also had to add some more soil to some spots where they were really low. After adding the soil we raked it out all nice and smooth. I was shocked as to how many people and plows actually drive on the grass and just don’t care. Our second job of the day was to make a more defined edge to the already existing tree wells. We did one maple, three pines and three crab-apples. After they were all complete it was time to add the mulch. Adam was a pro so he went to get that for us using the tractor. Once our tree wells were finished our first day was almost done, we had one last thing to do, pull out the Serbian spruce up in the front bed. That was a lot easier than I thought we could pull them right out just using our hands. I filled out the form saying that we took them out and put it back with the other ones. That was the end of our first day.

 

Saturday

Saturday was a little slow with us. All Adam did until last break was edge the front bed. And all I did until last break was prune the burning bush (until Pascoe told me not to worry about it because they were coming out anyways… couldn’t have told me that before I started) and pruned the Nine bark. After lunch we decided to get a head start on the cedar hedge because we knew we still had a lot to do. We knocked off all the soil from the root balls and left them to bake in the sun. We also had to do some of those buggers up that people had forgotten to do. Other than having to remove the debris from the garden bed that about all we did Saturday. I wasn’t too impressed with our work ethic and the amount of work completed for Saturday.

Sunday  (Easter, and also the VERY last day of practical!!!!!)

Since we really didn’t get much done on Saturday we both knew that this is crunch time! Adam went back up to the front of the garden to finish is edge I’m guessing, he also had to mulch it so I’m hoping he did that too. While he was doing that, my best friend Courtney and I started on the cedar hedge. She was in a group of three and they powered through almost all their stuff so she offered to help me out. What a nice friend. First job we had to do was remove the root balls. As I drove along with the RTV she would just pick them up and chuck them into the trailer. We had a pretty good system going once we got into it. Once they were all cleaned up, she was on one side and I was on the other she would rake her side of the soil back into the hole then I would rake mine, once again we had an amazing system going. Now it was time to mulch. I drove the RTV over and watch Courtney somehow perfectly operate the tractor and dumped a big load of mulch in. Sticking to our system, id pull up, park, get out, and help her unload the mulch around the cedars, back in drive a little more. We dropped all the mulch that we needed for our section by lunch time. After lunch I was flying solo again, at this point Adam was down at the other end removing his root balls. I started to spread the mulch along the hedge. Adam came up to help me once he removed his root balls. This is where crunch time began. Not only did we still have to much the whole other side of the hedge but we still had to fill the holes in with the soil. And I still had to prune those dang dogwoods. I left Kattis to trust him to finish the part where I started. I brought the RTV down with me to the other side and started dumping mulch. Filling in the holes and dumping mulch.

Courtney, Evan, and Ajay

Day 1

The first day of our last practical (we actually made it!) started a bit chilly for being the middle of April but still it was better than the snow that had graced us the week before. After Courtney opened the house up we sat down and took a moment to wake ourselves up, as we waited for the dreaded eight am to come. After the 8 am rolled around we set off to the tool shed to pick out our weapons of choice:  the mighty loppers, the faithful shears and the fearsome (and singular) hand saw. Upon reaching our work site we divided ourselves up and set to the mission at hand which was spring cleanup of the front Iris garden.  One of the main tasks the removal of DDDI’s (dead, dying, diseased and interfering) branches, suckers and water sprouts. The other task was the cutting hydrangeas down to 6-8 inches with the nearest bud. Everything was going smoothly until we came across a Weigela that looked like it was dead. We started with removing the obvious DDDI’s. Then we carefully removed smaller select stems with our Felco secateurs, checking each stem as we pruned (looking for signs of life but there was none!). Next we moved up to loppers, again selecting certain stems then checking for signs of life alas they were lacking that necessary xylem and phloem flow.  We discussed cutting the whole plant down but before we came to a conclusion we broke for lunch. During our lunch Pascoe showed up and we decided to show him the plant to get his opinion. After giving the Weigela a once over, Pascoe informed us that the plant was in fact still alive, so we cleaned it up a bit more and moved on.

 

 

Day 2

Saturday morning started even colder than yesterday bringing with it frost. Thankfully no more snow but the frost was unfortunate for anyone who planted any tender plants thinking the cold was gone. After removing frost from the windshields of our vehicles we set off for Strathroy.  Upon arriving we decided what tasks were our main priorities for the morning. Courtney started with edging on the Iris garden while Ajay and Evan went to the front of Cuddys to remove stones that were thrown from the highway into the turf, using an Echo paddle sweeper. After Ajay and Evan finished their tasks they set off to do edging, with Ajay going to help Courtney on the Iris bed and Evan attacking the very front garden. This continued on for the rest of the day only taking a break from it to do a few tasks that Pascoe had assigned when stopping by. Such as giving two Spruce new leaders to replace their original ones which had died.

 

Day 3

Today started the warmest of them all, not a bad way to start the final day of the final practical. After arriving at the house we sat down to discuss what tasks were left for us to do and realized that we were pretty much done so instead of checking off the few last tasks on our list first we decided help out the other groups with their tasks first. Courtney decided to go help Katlyn and Adam with their tasks. First Katlyn and Courtney started by rounding up the equipment needed for the day. They started by removing all of the dead Cedar root balls from the Cedar Border by the Polyhouses. They then filled the leftover holes from the root balls and started to mulch. Thinking it would be a good idea to let the mulch dry out so it wasn’t as heavy, Courtney and Katlyn moved up to the front of the property to finish the pruning of the Dogwoods and Ninebarks. Evan went to help Brandy and Dave with their tasks at the greenhouse which included: repotting Pines into larger pots and then takings some annual bulbs and repacking them into bulb trays (making sure to water them in as we went along). After we finished assisting the other groups we regrouped to finish our last task, blowing all the hardscapes to remove any debris on them. This task was short and sweet just the way we like it, after that we did one final check of the gardens up front and then cleaned up. Although the last day was hectic, stepping back and taking a second you can’t help but admire all the beauty that the Cuddy Gardens has to offer. It will certainly be missed by all of us! You can guarantee to see a lot of our faces at the Cuddy Garden Open House the first weekend in June! Hope to see you all there as well!   

 

Dave and Brandy April 18-20

April 18, 19, & 20^th. Dave and Brandy

                Spring has sprung and it is time to open up the greenhouses for the year! It has been a long cold winter and our plants have been very patient. When we arrived at Cuddy’s for 8am out first order of business was to be sure all of the plants in both hoop houses and the nursery were watered. During watering we noticed some of the trees and shrubs in the nursery were in consistent with their pot sizing, and the nursery floor needed more gravel. The only problem with that was the rain setting in, so we moved our work inside transplanting some metasequoia, and staking them and also staking some birch tree saplings.  In the poly house, some flats on the floor were not laid out properly (3 rows of 4 flats with one in between each set of rows.)

 

                Saturday was a bright and sunny day, although the morning was cold it warmed up immensely for the afternoon. We started out day by collecting the pots that the selected plants were to be transplanted into. Once we had all of our pots we moved the selected plants out of the nursery area to complete putting the gravel down and levelling it out.  Once all of our gravel was levelled out, I (Brandy) started transplanting, while Dave cleaned up the area where we built the stone wall. After the area was all cleaned up we had some grass brought to us that we were instructed to pot up, bringing us to the end of the day.

                Sunday morning started out beautifully. As everyone arrived we planned out our tasks for the day. Dave and I finished the transplanting and moving the trees in the nursery, which put us onto our next task of pruning the weeping mulberry trees. After that I moved all of the steel from behind the compost and cleaned up that whole area straightening out the tarp and cleaning up the stones. The end of our day was simply cleaning up the greenhouses, weeding the plant pots and osmacoteing everything. At the end of the day we washed all the tools we used and helped the maintenance crew also clean their tools and washed the tractors.

Brittany and Kyle April 11-13

Greenhouse Practical
April 11, 12, 13.
Brittany and Kyle

 

The weekend started off as usual by receiving our weekend tasks from Lucas and Michael. Lucas instructed us to start moving the woody plants out of the hoop house and into the gravel area between the two hoop houses. We worked away at this for the majority of the morning reorganizing and grouping the plants together, topping up the media and weeding as we went along. After lunch, Michael gave us our major task for the weekend – to develop a spreadsheet to show the quantities of all the plants in the hoop houses for the spring plant sale. We decided to conquer the far hoop house first with all the perennials in it. But before we got started we, along with Mike got the hyacinth out of the pool room and put them into bulb crates that were donated from the Canada Blooms show – Michael never says no anything free! Mike also showed us how to take cutting of Optunia from the rock garden which we propagated back in the hoop house. We spent the remainder of the day completing the first part of the spreadsheet from the first hoop house.

 

Saturday morning we arrived a little tired but eager to get a lot accomplished. The morning was a chilly but by the afternoon it become obvious that spring had FINALLY arrive and was here to stay. Kyle and I continued to work away are reorganizing and cleaning up the hoop houses. We pulled out all the large trees from the hoop house and lined them up outside. We all filled up the entire gravel area with all the woody deciduous plants that the space allowed. After lunch we entered all of the plants in the gravel area into the spread sheet and spent the last hour of the day deadheading and going through plants in the last hoop house. The day wrapped up just as the rain started to fall – perfect timing!

Sunday we were greeted by the usual muddy grounds this time of year; we got a decent amount of rainfall Saturday night. We started off the morning but reorganizing the last hoop houses and putting the plants into groupings so that they would be easy to count and record onto the spread sheet. We finished putting the all the plants into the spreadsheet and spent the remainder of the day by dead heading and getting rid of perennials that didn’t survive the winter, giving the hoop houses a much needed spring cleaning and Kyle watered.

 

 

Chad and Eric A, April 11-13

Cuddy Garden Landscape Weekend Practical

Eric Abram and Chad Segeren

 

April 11^th, 2014

 

            On our first day, we met on site with Lucas Michielsen and Mike Pascoe to get a layout of the work that needed to be completed during the weekend. The tasks consisted of mostly spring cleanup and with an addition of mulching the garden beds around the perimeter of the house. Since it was our first day, we were pepped up and ready to work and the weather cooperated beautifully. The garden beds still had remaining periwinkle growing so Eric removed the invasive plant and tried to pull as many roots with it as possible. We cleaned up the edges of the garden beds beside the front entrance and laid a thick layer of mulch in the beds. Next, Eric replanted some bulbs that were planted too shallow while Chad sheared the euonymus growing underneath the yew hedge. The euonymus was growing into the pathway so it was a must to cut it back to not obstruct fellow visitors and workers. Following the cut back of the euonymus, we added a thin layer of mulch under the yew hedge. After lunch, we began mulching small areas on the stone patio and pruned the epicormic shoots on the Lantanaphyllum Viburnum. Epicormic shoots on branches are usually growing straight upwards and interfere with the natural shape of the tree. The final job we started doing was removing the English ivy, another invasive species, in the garden bed beside the patio. It was a great day to be outside and we took advantage of it with our productivity. (Insert picture 1 here)

 

April 12^th, 2014

 

            Eric and I continued removing the English ivy in the garden bed and pursued in removing all the roots that were visible. Upon completing the removal of the ivy, I began mulching the garden bed while Eric removed more periwinkle and mulched a different garden bed beside the Mediterranean garden. Eric removed the trailing periwinkle to control the spread of this groundcover plant. I cleaned up the edges of both beds in order to contain the mulch in the garden beds and not in the grass. Later into the afternoon when all the mulching was finished, the woodland garden was in need of some dead-heading of hostas and hydrangeas. The cleanup was minimal since the stalks can be used as mulch so we spread the pruned remains in the back of the garden beds. Although it was mostly a cloudy day, the weather was fair we got in a full day of work. (Insert picture 2 here)

 

April 13^th,2014

 

            On our final day, with chance of precipitation, we were on to our final tasks. We began with removing the teepees made of branches used to cover the rhododendrons during the winter months. The smaller branches were left in the gardens as well as some larger branches to give the woodland garden a natural, untouched look. There was some maintenance to be done in the Mediterranean garden such as shearing and pruning. A final raking of the pea gravel paths gave the garden a clean and professional look. Eric and I put weather-protective oil on the wood bench that is used in the Mediterranean garden. The dry stone retaining wall needed to be re-shaped into a straight line so we used a couple rubber mallets to bang it back in to place. It’s only a momentary fix; a solid rebuilding of the wall is in need. Finally, a good clean up with the backpack blower made the landscape look pristine.

(Insert picture 3 here)

               

Family:  Sapindaceae

Genus: Acer

Species: saccharinum

Type:     Deciduous tree

Origin:   Eastern North America

 

USDA Hardiness Zone:   3-9

Temperature (°C):           -40°

Temperature (°F):           -40°

Height:         15-25 m

Spread:                10-20 m

Growth:               Fast

Flowering Period:            March-April

 

The silver maple (or soft maple) is a North American native which in nature grows in poorly-drained swampy soils. Thanks to its fast rate of growth, it found widespread use as a street and park shade tree in Southwestern Ontario in the post-war period. However, it also has a relatively short lifespan. Unfortunately for us, this means that our streets are now lined with 60-70 year old trees reaching the end of their lives. The soft wood has a tendency to rot and branches break often in storms and from ice.   Looking past its flaws, the silver maple has very handsome foliage and reacts to a breeze in a quite charming manner. The silvery bark exfoliates with age and the tree is also used to produce maple syrup.

 

Habitat: The silver maple grows naturally in low-lying wet soils along riverbanks and in swamps. Shares its habitat with the red maple, Acer rubrum, with which it can sometimes hybridize.

Landscape:  Often planted as a street or shade tree thanks to its fast growth. Most suited to naturalized areas with poor drainage where storm damage is not an issue and other trees drown.

Bark Description: New growth is glabrous  and red to brown in colour with vertical lenticels. On younger branches, bark is grey to grey-brown. With age, the grey bark furrows heavily and begins to exfoliate, giving it a rough shaggy appearance.

Bud Description                : Silver maple buds are red to reddish-brown, held oppositely on the stem in overlapping clusters with a pubescent fringe.

Leaf Description: The simple leaves of the silver maple are vibrant green with a bright white underside, palmate and deeply lobed,  approximately 7-15 cm across on a 7-12 cm petiole.

Flower Description: Silver maple flowers are devoid of petals and are monoecious, containing either stamens or pistils. They are green-brown to red in colour, perhaps hinting at red maple heritage.

Fruit Description: The silver maple produces samaras (‘keys’) in May-June, in large numbers. The samaras are approximately 3-6 cm in length.

Colour Description: Silver maples have bright green leaves with white undersides, and old bark is silvery-grey. Flowers can be bright red and ornamentally significant on some individuals.

Texture Description: Coarse textured in winter with shaggy, deeply ridged bark. Medium textured when in leaf.

 

Works Cited

Dirr, Michael. Manual of woody landscape plants: their identification, ornamental characteristics, culture, propagation and uses. 6th ed. Champaign, Ill.: Stipes Pub., 2009. Print.

Gilman, Edward, and Dennis Watson. "Acer saccharinum Silver Maple." http://hort.ufl.edu/. University of Florida, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. http://hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/acesaca.pdf

"Silver Maple." http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/. North Dakota State University, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. .

Jessica S, Jordan, and Corey, April 11-13

­April 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th ­­

Weekend Practical @ AM Cuddy Garden in Strathroy with Jordan, Corey and Jessica S.

If this past weekend was any indication I think it is now safe to say that spring is here!

Friday started off chilly as we walked the gardens and received our maintenance duties from Lucas. As a group we decided to first lay the mulch in the Louise Weekes Hosta Garden because not only was there a giant pile of fresh beautiful mulch in front of the hoop house but the task would go much quicker if we worked together to get it done before the sun came out to play. The task took longer than I think we all expected but the results were amazing.

 

After lunch we moved onto pruning, we removed some lower branches on an Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra) which has a case of Diplodia, not unusual at all for this tree but it was important to sanitize our tools afterwards to prevent the spread of the disease.

 

As we continued to prune back some shrubs, which included a Yew and a Viburnum, Lucas brought the chipper out to clean up all the sticks and branches.

Saturday started off chilly as well but we were in high in spirits and in energy as we once again slugged wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of the old mulch to cover the grass debris underneath the evergreens lining the Louise Weekes Hosta Garden. Saturday afternoon was beautiful, sunny and a high of 17°C, we tried to stay in the shade by working on the parking lot garden, removing garbage and cutting back surrounding plants.

 

Sunday was cold to start but soon became rather humid with some light rain. We did a lot of cleaning and touch up work from our previous mulching. The heavy rain from Saturday night made a mess of our nice path but was easily fixed. Some additional pruning had to be done in the parking lot bed and has been cleaned up nicely. The afternoon was spent putting a nice edge on a couple garden beds and trying to clean up the parking lot despite the strong winds.   

 

In Bloom @ Cuddy’s – April 11^th, 12^th and 13^th

 

 

 

Botanical Name:              Chionodoxa luciliae ‘Pink Spangles’

Common Name:               Glory of the Snow

Family:                                 Asparagaceae

Type:                                     Bulb

Native to:                            Western Turkey

USDA Zones:                      3 to 8

Height:                                 6”

Bloom Time:                      Late Winter/Early Spring

Foliage Description:       2 to 3 narrow, strap-like leaves

Bloom Description:         6-petaled, star shaped cluster of flowers top leafless stalks

Sun:                                       Full Sun to Part Shade

Maintenance:                   Low

Uses:                                     Naturalize

Katlyn's Greenhouse weekend

Weekend practical April 4, 5, 6

Friday: Friday was not as nice as id like for it to be this time of year, it was very rainy and cold. I was at the Cuddy Gardens bright and early. Everyone had CLT in the morning but me, I was in the hoop house taking down the white poly. I worked on the poly until I couldn’t reach anymore. I then moved onto cone flowers. My job was to go through all the annual plants in the hoop house to weed them and pitch the ones that were bad. As I was going along with the cone flowers, I noticed a lot were bad Pascoe says it was because of our super cold long winter. In the afternoon I went to rock my CLT stations.

Saturday: Johnny helped me with the rest of the poly in the morning. Things went a lot faster with two people. My partner didn’t care to help me out this weekend so I was flying solo. Once the poly was off and wrapped into little bundles I continued with the annuals. I took breaks in between annuals, I cleaned up the mouse traps and disposed of them properly and I also took in the trees and shrubs that we did our pruning test on. Then back to annuals I had a lot to still do but I was determined to get it done.

Sunday: Sunday fun day, nah just kidding more like work as hard as I possibly can to get all the jobs done on time. Started off with finishing the one side of annuals I did yesterday. Once those were done I started to walk around to add osmocote to all pots. I did that until the bag ran out and I didn’t want to open the other stuff until I got the okay from Lucas. Until then I went into the other poly house to do a little clean up (sweep, and found a little friend, a MOUSE) unfortantly I was unable to work in that house this weekend. It was hard to get all the jobs done by myself but I tried my hardest. Back to the annuals I go, they really feel like they are never ending. I got the okay to use the 14-14-14 osmocote to finish off the rest of the annuals and I am happy to say that they all got fed! Cut back some grasses and found another dead mouse, of course I screamed like a little girl, I eventually cleaning it up.

The weekend was quite eventful, very busy, and hot. I was happy with all the things I finished and how clean the poly house is.

New growth selfie !

 

Practical Weekend April 4, 5, 6 Johnny and Hilary

Friday morning started with a warm greeting of “Welcome to CLT testing!” During the morning Johnny took part in the CLT testing I, Hilary had the opportunity to practice some of my pruning skills before I took part in the CLT testing in the afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

Adam P. worked alongside of me aiding in the garden clean up along the driveway before he was to be tested in the afternoon as well.  Once 12 o’clock rolled around Johnny and Matt continued the tasks of spring clean-up in the garden bed area we had started. Matt collected two crates of Liquidambar seed pods while Johnny did what he knows best and gave the front turf area a good scalp clean by racking the leaves and broking up the grey snow mould patches. To finish out the day all grasses in the dry garden were cut down although the dry garden wasn’t so dry with the rain that had been so subtle and persistent for the afternoon.

Saturday morning started off a bit on the cool side. Taking a load of debris to the compost pile proved to be a bit more chilling than intended since I did not have the tractor in high gear but rather low gear. I could see the snow slowly passing me by as I made the trek there. Cold and cloudy did not stop the work that needed to be done. Johnny and I played peak-a-boo all day as we sheared the grasses down and coppiced a few of the shrubs in front of the Cuddy hatchery.

 

Stepping lightly from grass to grass we could see some of the spring bulb leaves barely breaking through the surface of the soil stretching towards the warmth of the light. Sedum popped its head out to say hello as well.

As for Sunday it turned out to be a gorgeous day. We were met by a whopping 11 degrees, a slight breeze from the south east, and hardly a cloud in the sky. I’d say it’s almost time for shorts and t-shirts. It made for a perfect day to get the leaves off the lawn areas, touch up our fallen garden edges, and finally clean off the driveway of all that winter sand.

 

Removing the leaves from the turf area is always a good thing to do. Blanketing turf with leaves can kill turf off. A perfect spot for our leaves here was to place them in the woodland garden. Acting as natural mulch and an insulating layer on the ground it aids in protecting the baby shoots of the spring bulbs that are trying to emerge from the frosty nights. As the day came to an end we are always sure to clean off all our equipment to keep it in good working order.

Adam and Matt

Weekend Practical blog: April 4th 5^th and 6th  

Adam Pacheco, Matt Deobelle

Monday:

 Today is the day of our reckoning as CLT testing day looms over our heads like a dark cloud. Those of us who are lucky enough to get the process over with early get their stress out of the way and the rest (I.E Adam Pacheco) are left to obsess, review and stress out over the exams. Therefore for the first four hours of the morning Hilary and I had swapped partners and set to work on the laneway planter bed.

We started out pruning the shrubs of any suckers and reviewing how we would properly prune this shrub in preparation for our pruning exam, talking ourselves through the process made the entire examination seem a little less daunting and instilled a little confidence in us. After that was finished we set out to work on the buckthorn also pruning away any suckers impeding healthy growth for the tree (this one had a TON). After that was completed we have the bed a quick sweep off and had a meeting with Lucas where we received our orders for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday:

We were greeted by a bitterly cold and honestly quire miserably windy morning the following day, however with the CLT testing behind us we found a little push a motivation to begin the days tasks. As I partnered up with Matt once again this morning we set upon our first task, pruning back the cotoneaster and spirea in front of the Cuddy hatchery. It was a nice slow paced job for the early morning that got us all warmed up and prepared for our next task, cutting back the tall grasses that make up the bulk of the planting in the front garden beds. With that completed and cleaned up we gave the bed a quick edge and blew and excess debris that we found and called it quits for the day.

 

Sunday:

A beauty of a morning today! The sky was clear and the sun was shining and with a little spring in our steps we set upon the rest of our tasks for the day. We began with getting all of our tools all neat and sorted that we would be using for the rest of the day the usual rakes, pruners, brooms, all that good stuff. Firstly we raked the front lawn of the Cuddy hatchery most of the morning up to our first break. Afterwards Matt and I decided it would be a good activity to unwrap the evergreens that we wrapped up fall of last year. The work was slow going and time consuming because the group that wrapped them up did such a thorough job (I.E Jrow and I) but we got them all done at a steady pace. It’s worth noting that the Blue Atlas Cedar seemed to have suffered a little bit of burn over the long winter so it may be a good idea to wrap it more thoroughly this upcoming fall. After lunch Hilary, Johnny, Matt and I got to work cleaning the front yard of the Cuddy gardens of all leaf litter and raking it neatly into the woodland gardens for some “Mulch au Natural”. With all these tasks completed we patted ourselves on the back for a job well done and promptly headed our separate ways, thanks for a great year Fanshawe!    

 

Eric and Sky

Sky Holbrook and Eric Stacey – Weekend Practical Blog

 

Friday March 28, 2014:

We arrived at Cuddy’s on the gloomy Friday morning as eager as could be to get going on spring clean-up. Although the threat of a rainy snow mix made the day feel much like a Monday, we pushed on and made the best of it. With our listed tasks assigned by Lucas we started out with a clean-up of the patio area, cutting back the ivy, euonymus, lavender and paying some attention to the pond being careful not to spook the fishes.  After a little bit of pruning on the boxwoods and a final sweep, the patio was starting to look seasonal again! By lunch we had moved to the upper lawn to prune out some stragglers on the taxus (yew) and clean up more perennials. Throughout the afternoon we worked our rakes to suppress some nasty snow mold that’s seems to be popping up everywhere.

 

Saturday March 29, 2014

Saturday morning wasn’t as wet although the wind had some bite, which just made the coffee taste even better. We started the morning with the hefty task of pruning the mass of hydrangeas near the woodland garden with the ultimate goal of reducing some height and rejuvenating their true form. As the debris piled up, we began working on cleaning up the turf area which is becoming over run with snow mold, lightly raking to help dethatch and get some air to the soggy roots.

 

We continued marching on insisting that this snow melt so that we could tackle other tasks like cutting back grasses and cleaning seed pods from the Gliditsia tricanthos (Honey Locust) that were scattered throughout the perennial beds. With more deadheading of hostas we continued to jump from task to task somewhat handicapped by the persisting snow. After break we took a walk through the grounds to see if there was anything else that we could do, ending up in the hosta garden. After deadheading and a quick cleanup we packed it in for the day eager to get on with Sunday.

 

Sunday March 30, 2014

Sunday was looking quite promising as the sun shone in our tired eyes on the way to Cuddy’s. Today was an important day to finish up any tasks that had to be put off because of snow. We took care of what we could in the grass border cutting back those grasses that weren’t buried in snow and pulled some old bean from the fence and arbor leading into the rose garden finishing with a thorough rake of the turf around the roses. The sun was nice and the vitamin D felt good. It was enjoyable as we finished up the day by helping water the hoop house and shining up the tractors. All in all, a productive weekend even though we were limited to what we could do. Tomorrow is another day, another day closer to paradise. 

 

 

Galanthus nivalis – Common Snowdrop

Family: Amaryllidaceae

Genus: Galanthus

Species: nivalis

Category: Herbaceous

Type: Bulb, Perennial

Origin: Found in meadows and hillsides throughout Europe from the Pyrenees Mountains to Ukraine.

USDA Hardiness:  Zone 3 to Zone 8

Canada Hardiness:  Zone 3 to Zone 7

Height: 10-15cm

Spread: 10cm-15cm

Growth: Fast

Flowering Period:  January to April

 

General Description: Galanthus nivalis has hardened off leaf tips that allow the plant to penetrate the snow; allowing for a beautiful display of small white flowers in the early months of spring.  Avoid planting single bulbs, but instead plant in small clusters. The bulb of the plant is poisonous to humans.

ID Characteristic: Small white bell-like flower on a single stock with two to three leaves.

Landscape Use:  Large masses, rock garden, under trees and shrubs, at the fronts of borders or in front of flowering shrubs, in lawns, or along woodland paths.

Shape: A single bell-like flower hanging from a stiff leafless stalk.

Propagation: It does not seed. It needs to be lifted and divided into clumps every two years just after flowering. Replant and allow leaves to die back naturally.

Cultivation: Should be lifted and split about every three years. Prefer full sun and a rich, well-drained soil. Can be planted in either autumn or when dormant.

Pests: Keel slug.

Habitat: Mostly deciduous woodland, but occasionally coniferous woodland. Also in meadows, pasture, amongst scrub, near rivers and on stony slopes, particularly on calcareous soils.

Leaf Description: Each bulb generally produces two narrow linear leaves that are a bluish-green in colour. The leaf-tips hardened off in order to break through the frozen ground.

Flower Description: Small white flower that hangs down loosely with only one flower per stem. The inner flower segments contain a green patch towards the tip. In the early stages of development the bloom will often be found encased in a paper-like sheath.

Colour Description: White flower with green patches on the inner flower segment. Two to three bluish-green leaves on a single stock.

Texture Description: Leaves are smooth with hardened tips. 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave and Brandy

Friday March 28^th:

                Arriving out at Cuddy’s on Friday morning it was pretty cloudy but the rain held out until almost lunch time. First thing in the morning, Lucas assigned us our jobs for the weekend.  The majority of our work consisted of pruning to help selected plants prepare for spring. For example, we pruned back the English Ivy on the wall to the left of the car port, and cleaned out any dead/ dying leaves and removed other seasonal debris.  We raked up all the seed pods that the Honey Locust dropped, saving the ones that were in good shape for future germination.  The other plants we pruned were the spirea, holly, and boxwood. We also did some pruning on the yews, even though it is not the proper time to prune them, just to try to eliminate some of the brownness of the winter burn. We also did some pruning on the Korean lilac to the left of the car port just to eliminate it from obstructing the pathway and driveway. After that, we raked the turf to allow some air flow through it and also to clean up the sticks, crab apples, and in some cases snow mold.

 

Saturday March 29^th

                Today we started out with some more pruning because the ground had frozen the night before, and we couldn’t quite finish raking the turf. We started out by defoliating the euonymus vine and pruning the old canes off the spirea plant to thin it out and improve its aesthetics. Continuing pruning we then pruned back the hydrangeas in the woodland garden so there all relevantly the same height.  From there, we moved onto cleaning up the hostas by pulling off last year’s blooms and composting them, while doing this we also removed all of the fallen branches off the turf and continued to rake the areas where the snow had melted. After lunch we cut down the grasses that are to the left of the rose garden and uncovered the stones we will be using on Monday to build our dry-stone walls by the hoop houses.

 

Sunday March 30^th

                Arriving at Cuddy’s today we were all wide-eyed, bushy-tailed and full of excitement because our friend the sun was finally joining us. We started off our morning in the usual way getting out all our tools, equipment, and circle checks all in order.  With the ground still being frozen in the morning our first task was cleaning out the toolshed and sweeping the floor.  After we went to the patio and cleaned up the wisteria pruning’s and swept off the patio. By this time, it had warmed up enough that we could continue on the turf, raking it where the snow had melted. By doing this we are allowing some of the moisture to dry up, preventing, and eliminating snow mold. Nearing the end of our day, we watered the hoop house and continued to rake the turf. After everything had been finished we washed our tools and equipment from the weekend and did a final walk through of the property before we finished up for the weekend.

 

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ – Jelena Witch Hazel

General: Jelena Witch Hazel is an excellent addition to any landscape as it adds interest year round with it’s very early spicy scented blooms beginning as early as February, to the deeply veined leaves which turn to shades of orange and red in the autumn. 

Genus: Hamamelis

Species: x intermedia ‘Jelena’

Family: Hamamelidaceae

Category: Deciduous Shrub

Flowering Period: February to March

Height: 8-12 feet

Spread: 8-12 feet

Zone: USDA 5-9

Origin: North America(Horticultural Origin)

Pests/Problems:  Relatively pest free,  Japanese beetles can be an issue with higher population levels.

Landscape: Jelena is great for entrance ways, walkways, and patios.  It can also be placed along the edges of woodlands and can be paired with upright growing shrubs such as Dogwoods.

Propagation:  Softwood cuttings or it can be grafted in winter on to H. virginiana during winter.

Habitat: It can handle partial shade to full sun and grows best in moist, well-drained soil.

Shape: Multi stemmed and wide spreading.

ID Characteristics: Deeply veined leaves, copper red to yellow blooms which are earlier than other varieties and the spicy scent.

Flower description:  Small, around .5cm across by 1cm long.  The fine petals sprawl out from the red calyx going from a copper red to bright yellow at the tips.  Slight spicy scent.

Leaf description: Alternate, broadly ovate to obovate with deep veins.

Works Cited

"Canada Plants." Canada Plants. Canada Plants, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. .

"Hamamelis × Intermedia 'Jelena' - Plant Finder." Hamamelis × Intermedia 'Jelena' - Plant Finder. Missoury Botanical Garden, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. .

"Hamamelis X Intermedia 'Jelena'" RHS Gardening. Royal Horticulture Society, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. .