First week at Mt. Cuba

I have to say first of all that this internship has treated me like a queen! Ed Moydell, founder of the program (Triad Internship) graciously picked me up at the Philadelphia airport, showed me around the sights and then took me out to have a mushroom burger and sweet potato fries at this terrific restaurant in quaint Kennett Square! DEE-LISH! This, I might add, was around 9 PM and he still had 2 hours to drive home! I was treated as a fine guest would be in a 5 star hotel. Thank you Ed. Very nice!

I've just finished my first week at Mt. Cuba Center and what a week it was! It started out meeting with the director, Rick Lewandowski with his fine acumen of horticultural insight, who gave me a through background history of Mt. Cuba Center and how it all came about. He then proceeded to give me a complete tour of the gardens and insights into all of the projects they have underway. I was introduced to Angie who takes care of the budget and gave me some valuable information about what her job entailed. After that, Eileen Boyle the educational director and I were then treated to a gourmet salad and pizza extraordinaire lunch in the Delaware area by Mr. Lewandowski! Thank you. It was great!

The second half of my day consisted of an organizational overview with Steve McCann who is in charge of facilities. His duty is getting the Copeland's home and gardens to the point of being LEED certified. That stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) which is the nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction, and operation criteria of high performance green buildings. In other words, he focuses on maximizing the operational efficiency of the whole house and gardens while minimizing environmental impacts. I am impressed with Mt. Cuba Center's foresight of the implementation of environmental concerns.
Mt. Cuba Center, by the way, is a non-profit, fully funded organization which was once the home and family estate of Mr. and Mrs. Lammont du Pont Copeland. The Copelands had the foresight to share their wonderful estate for public use and is now a hidden gem of a garden providing a message of responsible land use and a mission to sound gardening practices using native plants as its backdrop.

I should mention, at the very beginning even before I arrived, Mr. Lewandowski sent me an e-mail with a concise itinerary of where and who I would be with for the entire two weeks stay. Each day was divided in half, spending the morning with one staff member and then after lunch with another. This turned out to work very well as I was able to spend a good 4 hours with each staff member learning about how each spent their day and what their individual jobs entailed.
The next succeeding days were spent with Eileen Boyle (as I mentioned above) the director of education and her assistant Julia Lo Ehrhardt. These two really spearhead the education department offering at least 60 classes a year for the general public. The day I spent with them there was a class on painting in the garden. Check out their classes! I'm sure you will find something interesting to learn.

Wednesday the 9th I attended their monthly staff meeting and got to sit in and hear what plans they have for Mt. Cuba in the future. The second half of that day consisted of spending time with each of the individual gardeners in their specific gardens. I got a chance to spend time with Donna Wiley in the Formal Gardens around the house and Greg Tepper in the Woodland Path Garden. Thursday July 10th was spent with Victor Piatt and Betsy Gage in the Trial/Rock Garden and Dogwood Path/ West Slope/Trillium garden respectively.

I must say I was really impressed with each gardener and staff member I had spent time with! I gained so much from each and every one of them. Mt. Cuba has an incredible staff! If you have any questions about any plants in the Delaware Piedmont area they are the ones to ask. They were all very cordial and helped me in extending my plant knowledge of this area.

Then Friday I worked planting 30 Sambucus trees in the outer renovation areas of the property with Jim Subach (Natural Lands Supervisor), Louie Schurter (Natural Lands Assistant) and the 7 summer interns that spend 12 weeks with their individual mentors in their individualized areas of study. I must say I had a very full and informative week. Mr. Lewandowski has an incredible staff and have all made me feel quite at home. I might never want to leave!