City Gardener

Again I was able to cycle, being careful to avoid the extra traffic going to the Fair. I’m beginning to favor the route up Cleveland Avenue rather than taking the busway over the railroad bridge. The ride up Cleveland is much more gradual and pleasant. B, Curator J, and students R and T were all there. I began by helping Curator J... clean the soot from two small Hibiscus clayi plants (native to Hawaii), see photo. Next, I set up stainless steel cables over the vine bench in room C3 (see photos). The six cables will hang down to viney plants, allowing them to grow up the cables. I had to find a ladder long enough to reach the overhead support cable - I found the ladder down the hall next to the maintenance department (there was nobody there to ask for permission so I borrowed it anyway). I used the big metal crimper tool to fasten grommets onto the loops of cable. We used up all three of the remaining carabiner hooks, more will have to be ordered to complete the project (see photo). Fi...

  Cycled, first day of Minnesota State Fair for 2023 Cleaning tank pump filters, particularly the tank with the carnivorous pitcher plants I also cleaned the soot from carnivorous pitcher plants (see photo) Next to the tank, the Asian tree Glyptostrobus pensilis (in the cypress family), had to be swapped out with one of the cycad trees. This effort took 3 of us to perform. The cycad was doing poorly next to the tank resulting in large yellow spots on the fronds. The G. pensilis will probably do better in the position next to the tank.  A year ago I had moved the G. pensilis to its former location, and adjusted the stakes to help keep it upright. It has grown well in the meantime. Next to the G. pensilis tree I noticed the pot of stone plants in flower. The plant is from Africa: Conophytum lithopsoides. Another cool aquatic carnivorous plant: Drosera regia (a rare form of sundew plant, from a single valley in  Africa)

  It was a pleasure to once again cycle to the GH. The weather was cool and dry after a night of clouds, high winds, and threatening storms. At the GH, B... allowed me to water the plants in room C1. I had to accommodate an electrician who was working in the room to install wiring for overhead lights to be used during evening hours. Apparently, the original strip grow-lighting was intended for this purpose, but proved to be complicated and impractical given all the automation already controlling their operation. So the solution was to now install simple overhead lights independent of the grow-lights. While watering, the room felt cold. This is the “cloud forest” room. The temperature is set to be in the 50s and 60s F, with high humidity and a breeze through the room. In these conditions I found it chilly to work, so I put on my cycle jacket which kept me warm enough. Minnesota's winter-hardy opuntia cactus Later, I joined B..., Curator J..., and student R.... in their effort to tra...

Curator J...hosted an outdoor tea party to thank volunteers. The party was located in the outdoor Botanical Garden, across the street from the GH. It was fairly well attended, but only one other volunteer was able to attend, volunteer K, who has been assisting with IT data management and cataloging. A few others attended the tea including undergrad and grad students. Curator J made scones (herbs and cheese I think), B... brought fruit, and someone made poppy seed shortbread wafers. For the final hour after the tea I did the following activities: v ine maintenance, and s crubbing soot and scale from a small plant (?name) in 3c, on bench 2E Here is a term I learned from Curator J...: “Fabaceous ,” referring to the plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae plants (bean or legume plants). In room 3c, bench 1E, with a very sooty fabaceous plant: Glycyrrhiza glabra.

Again I was able to cycle to the GH. The weather was a bit steamy with high humidity. There were broken clouds threatening to coalesce into thunderheads at some point - they didn’t. The sky on the return trip was sunny and hot. My first task was to help B wash dirt plastic and terracotta pots that had been emptied. The plastic pots were going to be dipped and rinsed in an antiseptic solution of some sort - located in the pot cleaning room. The terracotta pots were to be sterilized by heat after we had rinsed out the dirt chunks. B had set up the hose outside in the courtyard next to the workroom. The pots she had selected took about 45 minutes to clean. She brought the pots to the cleaning room to finish the process. The pots will be reused, cleaning them helps to prevent the spread of pathogenic organisms:  bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The next chore was helping Curator J and B clean the sooty mold and scale from a couple of podocarp (family) trees in the gymnosperm clade. They w...