Winter hardy cactus beds

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 to repot the Cotoneaster frigidus tree which I had intended to do last week. This week, Curator J... had sourced a plastic pot large enough for the root ball. Before potting the plant, I had to clean out the pot with the outdoor garden hose located between the buildings. I removed the old pot from the root ball, really ‘tho most of theold plastic pot shattered as I pulled on the edges. It was quite easy to expose the root ball. Once fully exposed, teased away the root fibers and cut off the lower 2 inches of the root ball. This will allow the new roots to find the

new potting soil.

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A Sensitive Plant and Common Weed

Mimosa pudica, also commonly called the sensitive plant was a popular houseplant when I was growing up in the 1970s. It was popular for its ability to quicky change shape by folding up its leaves to protect them from herbivore predators. At the slightest touch the plant is able to expell water from special cells in the leaves, changing the shape from frond-like to a stick-form. The plant creeps along the ground, never for than a foot or so in height. In tropical parts of the world this plant is considered and invasive weed. Today, as I was treating plants to remove pests I happened to touch the leaves of a Mimosa pudica , one with a pretty puff-like flower. Sure enough, the leaves all folded up to almost nothing. Mimosa pudica , the sensitive plant Other more routine chores during my four-hour shift at the U of M Conservatory included cleaning three plants of Hibiscus clayi, native to Hawaii. These three plants in particular have suffered repeated infestations with a variety of in...

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Rebuilding the support for vanilla vines

Raining in February The morning began with a walk in the rain from my car to the Conservatory greenhouses - in the month of February. According to the calendar, we should be in the depths of winter. The precipitation today should be snow not rain. The storm system that we're experiencing is probably related to drenching rains moving inland from the west coast. I met Coordinator A... at the door of the Conservatory. His office desk faces one of the main doors to the building. He cannot escape observing everyone who enters...poor guy, it must be distracting for him. Anyway, as soon as I entered the building we started to discuss his plan for my activity of the morning. He offered me the project of rebuilding the support for vanilla vines which have been suffering from overexposure to sunlight and dry air. A bit of background The vanilla plant (Vanilla planifolia) is in the orchid family. It is native to Central America and Mexico. The seed pods were used by the Aztecs to flavor coc...

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