The Joslin Garden is like a chameleon. There are so many moods. Last week it was all about the mountains. This week, arriving under an overcast sky, just past dawn, the air was thick. The trees were laden with raindrops, and with each breeze, those drops fell like walking a rainforest!
With coffee in hand, I began my day walking the property to see what today’s focus would be. I was alone. It felt nice. I was inspired to saw more. First, I noticed the coleus Nell planted last week. What a difference this made!
I planted the annual salvias from last week, along with six of the ten one-gallon-sized coleuses we had. This was not easy going. The four remaining pots will have to wait. At least I dug a bit to set the pots in so they didn't fall over and miss any of the rain we hope to get.
While I was digging, I realized I wanted to make a bigger impact. That was going to involve a saw. I did what I could from my limited reach, but it is still a dump truck full. (Neal, please beg my forgiveness to your crew in advance.)
Aillene was here to help me today. The vitex, (Vitex agnus-castus) caught our eye. As we looked around, we found that everyone of them were misshapen, with truncated ends, better known as ugly scars, and multiple waterspouts per limb. We started with one that was clearly visible from the street. This made since, of course, since were a digging the new view!
Chris worked in the veggie garden, mostly planting marigolds. Nell did her work before our regular Thursday volunteer time, planting coleus, elephant ears, Colocasia spp, and I also saw evidence of more four O’Clock tubers, Mirabilis spp., no doubt dug up by Nell.
Oh, and before I forget, I saw that dear again. She was coming from the park across the street where it splits East and West Lake Dr. With so much building going on in Raleigh; these poor creatures have to go somewhere.
I also picked up big sticks that came down in the heavy rain we had, as well as coppicing several street spireia. What’s coppicing? Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management that exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down.
Spirea before coppicing to the ground.
It was a good day. Note to Nell, next week let’s talk about the vitex!
Until soon,
Helen Yoests
Environmental Scientist