City Gardener

 I rode my bike to the greenhouse today. The weather was dry and the temps were in the acceptably low 60s. However, there was an annoying breeze from the east, directly in front of me as I pedaled - slightly uphill -  to the St. Paul campus. I felt tired already as I dismounted to lock up the bike outside the Student Center. I walked the remainder of the distance to the greenhouse enjoying the quiet of the campus, the magnificent old trees now in full leaf. Before entering the greenhouse I took a detour to the Cargill Building (plant genetics) to view the large Agave americana that Curator J has lent to the lobby. It looks grand in the setting surrounded by slate gray panels and large windows facing southwest (see photo above). The wounds on my arms from repotting the beast last week are only now starting to fade. I arrived in the greenhouse on time (Yea!). Curator J... was in the workroom introducing a new student (T) to the grease board with its list of duties. Briefly we ex...

Today only B... and Curator J... were staffing the greenhouse. B did the watering of plants in rooms 4,3, and 2, while Curator J attended a meeting during the early morning hours.  B allowed me to complete the watering of room 1, and a couple of outside plants (although it was raining, so I guess the fertilized water was the only useful addition). After we completed the watering, the next task was to repot an 8-foot Agave americana that had been donated by a former student of the University. The student had obtained the agave cutting from the U of M greenhouse some 30 years ago. The plant had grown very well over the 3 decades, producing many “pups” which came attached to the plant. The agave had been delivered on a palette and dropped outside the backdoor of the collection rooms. Before I arrived, B and Curator J had removed several pups and retained three of them to be potted up in their collection. Curator J offered another of the unused pups to me, which I gratefully accepted....

Today it seems B... and Curator J... had not planned anything for me to do. So we all scratched our heads, so to speak, for a few minutes while Al and B considered the possibilities. Finally, we decided there are several plants, particularly on the vine bench, in need of cleaning. The scale insects and subsequent black sooty mold collect on the leaves and decrease the plant’s vigor. And, the black curled leaves are unsightly. I collected three of the vines and brought them outside to the little courtyard next to the workroom. Outside I was able to freely move around the plants scrubbing off the mold and the scale insects. The most affected vine was the Thunbergia mysorensis. The other two vines were Euphorbia heterophylla (Mexican fire plant) and Tetrastigma voinierianum (chestnut vine). After cleaning, pruning, and repositioning the vines, B mentioned the Zamia plants across from the vines were also heavily infested with scale insects and sooty mold. I spent the last half hour cleanin...

My first task of the day was to join B... and Al... as we cleaned the outdoor cactus bed at the front door of the greenhouse. I began by removing and rolling the nylon netting, cleaning out the debris stuck in the netting, then carefully rolling up the netting for storage until next Fall. Under the netting, the bed was covered with long pine needles which protect the small cactus plants and yuccas. Many of the Opuntias (O. macrorhiza and O. fragilis) looked to be in fine shape, having survived the winter well. They looked green and healthy. I read that Opuntia fragilis is native to Minnesota. The task took about 3 hours for the three of us to pick away most of the pine needles from around the cacti, quite delicate, knee-bending, and back-stretching work. I spent 20 minutes tending to the vine bench. There were several vines that had stolons stretching onto neighboring plants. These had to be removed or pruned to prevent the plants from becoming hopelessly entangled. Finally, I was able...