First week at Chanticleer

At Chanticleer there is a staff meeting every Monday morning before everyone goes out to do their respective work. This keeps communication lines open and lets everyone know what everybody else is doing. Ryan (the other triad intern and partner in crime) and I got a chance to sit in on the meeting and be introduced to the whole staff at one time. Today, I worked with horticulturist Laurel Voran and Chanticleer’s intern Shanti taking care of the Ruin Garden. What a great garden to work in! It amazed me to hear that the previous director had the risk-taking foresight to tear down a perfectly good building in order to create this imaginative and artistic ruin in its place.

Then it was off to the vegetable and cut flower garden with Doug Croft. Doug was out of town the previous week so there was plenty of dead-heading and weeding in his garden. I also sowed beet seeds, harvested beans, and planted sunflowers.

I loved working in the woods with Przemek Walczak. He maintains the woodland areas around Chanticleer editing invasive plants and incorporating natives. Today’s lesson was how to untangle girdled tree roots from a nursery container and how a tree (in this case, a maple) like this should be properly planted. “The site is prepared”, he said. Hmmm, but I didn’t see any hole. A very shallow bowl-shape depression was dug in the ground, the tree centered above it and the roots were then laid out into shallow channels that were splayed out like a sun’s rays and covered with the natural soil. I was amazed that planted this way no stake was needed, for the tree was steady and could stand on its own!

Thursday, I got a chance to rake the circular Zen Gravel Garden. Dan Benarcik showed me some secret techniques and then challenged me to come up with my own design. O…Kaaaaay… “And do it by 10:00 am before the garden is open to the public”, he says. “Oh and I also need a new flower arrangement for the water bowl in the outside living-room area”, he adds. But it’s already 9:15 am, I think to myself. Well, Dan just wants to give me a little taste of what he does every day. A busy fellow he works around the house by the pool, designs and maintains 140-plus container plantings, takes care of the outdoor living-room, rakes intricate designs into the gravel garden and a multitude of other chores. As I’m raking I think to myself, “This is not as easy as it looks”!

And last but not least I spent Friday with Jonathan who takes care of the front entrance to Chanticleer which involves the Teacup Garden, Tennis Court Garden, Upper Lawn area and a multitude of container pots. He was drawn away to speak to a group of visitors from Quebec which I unobtrusively listened in on and was fascinated to hear him speak and then hear his orations translated into French by the group’s interpreter. I helped his assistant Yvonne weed, water and plant some small bulbs into the Tennis Garden. I also got a chance to get some “hot tips” from Jenny, a previous photographer from Fine Gardening magazine. Thanks Jenny for the indispensable advice!

All in all I had a gratifying but ephemeral first week at Chanticleer and am looking forward to my next and last week there. Boo-hoo. :(

Last Week at Longwood

What?!! Last week?! How can that be? This has gone too fast! Well, Monday I had an incredible “behind the scenes look” at Longwood with Mark Richardson, Student Programs Coordinator that was just the best! He took me up on the roof of the Conservatory, above the arabesque glass ceiling of the Ballroom to show me the elaborate tracking equipment used to clean the panes, under the Outdoor Theatre to the performers dressing rooms and then to the basements and tunnels of Pierre Dupont’s vacation home. Really cool! Thanks Mark. I really enjoyed it. Then that afternoon I got a chance to sit in and help out Joan McClintock and her team, Julie and Susan, annotate next years Course Catalog. We had a fun time brainstorming. Powerful, Smart and Beautiful. Oh, my!

Tuesday, I worked all day with Lee and Marie in the Banana display room, removing and recabling plants for safety and health reasons. Then the rest of the day was helping Marie repot Phalaenopsis and Cattleya orchids.

Wednesday morning was spent helping Designer Jim Sutton and Karl Gercens decide on which plants to substitute in the Conservatory and Brick Walk areas. And in the afternoon I got a chance to visit with Missy in the Visitor Center dealing with ticketing and later with Jane in the gift shop. Each took time to show me their respective areas and explain challenges they encounter.

We took an intern field trip to Wave Hill in New York on Thursday. What a beautiful place. An unbelievable panoramic view of the Hudson River, a water garden (check out the cute frog I took a picture of), conservatory, art museum and eclectic vegetable and herb garden are what await you at Wave Hill. It was a long bus ride there and back but totally worth it!

Friday morning, I got a chance to sit in on a meeting with Kate who is in charge of the K-12th grade education program. She and the staff of the Ashland Nature Preserve are planning a 3-day workshop for teacher’s to learn how to install a nature habitat into their respective schools. They discussed training the teachers on how to construct raised-planting beds, composting techniques, after-installation maintenance tips and logistics involved. With the way these three coordinated the meeting I have no doubt they will have nothing but success come next June. And in the afternoon I got more research training helping Plant Research Intern, Jason process soil samples.

And last but not least, I’d like to thank all the staff at Longwood who took the time out of their days to let me see into a piece of their very busy workday.

Third Week at Longwood

This week was again filled, shuffling between several different people starting with the Indoor Display and ending with the Outdoor Display garden sections. Karl Gercens and Mary Allinson head the Indoor Display. Both are busy getting ready for “Autumn Colors” at Longwood. Amanda, another intern, and I helped with covering a giant cornucopia with grape vines which will later be filled with artisan glass pumpkins. I wish I could be here to see the final end product. It should be pretty impressive!

Harold Taylor and Bob Scanzarolli gave me a tour of their respective grdens. I worked on the Hill Garden Path with Susan from California and then a tour of Pierce’s Woods with gardener Pandora. Next, I talked with Jeff who takes care of the parking lot and area in front of the Visitor Center. He has the extra challenge of dealing with the heat generated from all of the concrete surrounding the planting beds. On Friday I worked with Ed Broadbent who is in charge of the "Brick Walk". There I helped him deadhead Cannas and spent Hibiscus blossoms.

The highlight of this week though had to be the field trip to Dumbarton Oaks and the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection is an institute of Harvard University dedicated to supporting scholarship internationally in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships, meetings, exhibitions, and publications. Oh, and lets not forget about the gardens! The public is invited to see the garden in all its glory with its many added ordornments such as statues, benches, brickwork, and cobblestone art. My favorite is the Ficus pumila room. Gail, our guide, gave a humorous but informative talk taking us through the impressive gardens that Beatrix Farrand designed in 1921.

Then it was on to the US Botanical Garden which features the exhibit “One Planet-Ours” which will be on display through October 13th of this year. I especially liked the “Cool Globes”, an exhibit of more than 40 sculptures of “whole-earth” solutions to the problems of living unsustainably.

Next week I am looking forward to going to Wave Hill in New York. I’ve never been to New York before!