Second Week at Mt.Cuba Center

Wow! How time flies! On Monday of the second week at Mt. Cuba I found myself working with James Subach the Natural Lands Supervisor, his assistant Louis Schurter, and their intern Cory. They are in charge of all the natural lands that surround the main house and gardens which includes acres and acres of woodlands and grass fields. Their job is in the restoration and preservation of maintaining and preserving these lands for future generations to come. They erect and maintain miles of deer fencing, spend hours weeding invasive plants, plant hundreds of native trees, protect rare plants and the list goes on and on.

I had a wonderful day, traipsing through the woods with them, looking for rare and endangered species. Above is a picture of Monotropa uniflora (Indian Pipe or the Ghost Plant). It is a rare non-photosynthetic plant that lives in very rich woodland areas. Also, they introduced me to invasive species like Euonymus alata (Burning Bush), Polygonum perfoliatum (Mile-a-Minute) and Rubrus phoeniculatus (Wineberry) to name but just a few. I have much respect for these gentlemen and wished I could of spent more time with them. Hats off to you!

Tuesday I spent time with David Korbonits in the Meadow garden. I learned about a beautiful stately, purple-flowered plant named Eupatorium purpureum (Joe-Pye Weed, really not a weed!) and several others including Liatris spicata (Gayfeather) and Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Milkweed, again not a weed). The meadow is mowed once a year between February and March which helps to cut down some invasive tree seedling species. In the afternoon, I took a tour of the pond area with gardener Marcie Weigelt and watched the crew take out an invasive, this time, native grass species that was overtaking the pond.

Curator, Amy Highland was next on the agenda and gave me the scoop on the BG-Base Software she uses to keep track of all the plants in the garden. Some kind of synergistic energy was going on that day because whenever Amy showed me something, immediately after, a gardener would come in and ask a question or needed information on exactly what she was just teaching me. Did you guys set that up? Really wierd. Anyways, learned a lot and that night it cracked me up, my friend Bridget called me and told me about this job she found online and wanted me to look at it. It was for a Curator at a Southern California garden and after spending the day with Amy I was able to tell her (my friend) all about it. I never knew exactly what a curator does and now I do. Thanks Amy!

That afternoon I spent time with Philip Oyerly, the Greenhouse supervisor, who showed me a handy gadjet called an IPM scope. It is a small magnifing glass which is attached to the computer where one can put a seed or insect underneath it. The object shows up magnified on the computer screen where a picture of the image can then be taken. I want one of those! Phil gave me a whole tour of the greenhouse operation and I got a chance to see how difficult it is to clean Hydrastis canadensis seeds!

Thursday was very special because I got a chance to talk to the folks at Delaware Marketing Group, that help Mt. Cuba Center deliver their message of Inspiration, Education, and Conservation. Those three words are exactly what Mt.Cuba Center is all about. I had an incredible time with all the staff members and thank you so much letting me soak up your knowledge and for giving me your precious time. I didn't mention everybody (this was getting too long) but you know who you are. Kudos to Mt. Cuba Center!

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!

Intro to the Triad Internship

Hi, my name is Toni. I am a senior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in beautiful central California finishing up the Environmental Horticulture program there. I have never been back East and when our professor Mr. Hannings told us about the Triad Internship I jumped on it. I'd love to go back East! This is a brand new internship started by Ed Moydell with Longwood Gardens in cooperation with the University of Delaware. Here, one has the choice of selecting three (from a list of approximately thirty) public gardens from which to internship. I choose Chanticleer, Longwood Gardens and Mt. Cuba Center. I will stay two weeks at Mt. Cuba Center, four at Longwood Gardens and then the last two weeks at Chanticleer. They are providing housing at Longwood and will be reinbursed for travel expenses. Normally the program is for three weeks staying one week at each garden. But since I am out-of-state I have to pay the University of Delaware out-of-state tuition fees ( I guess this is more of a class than an internship per se) and because for me it is quite expensive I asked if it was possible to work for a few more weeks to recoup the costs. So, that is why I will be there for eight weeks instead of the three originally offered. This, I appreciate for I would not have been able to participate if not for the extra weeks work. So I will keep you up to date and informed as to how this internship goes. I am really excited about it and will upload some pictures to let you in on my little adventure!