The Gardens of Fanshawe College - Josh S. and Candice April 5-7, 2013

Good afternoon fellow horticulture enthusiasts, Candice here. Just got home from my weekend practical at the Fanshawe campus with my fellow classmate Josh and boy am I feeling the burn…wind burn that is!

This weekend our job was to clean up “D” courtyard and make it shine. That may not seem like a hard job, but I was surprised to see how harsh winter and Fanshawe students were to this area. It looked like a trashed car that was lived in by hippies.

Throughout the weekend we tackled projects alongside the adjacent building and the garden beds that are to the left as you walk into the courtyard. We cut back grasses like professionals, pruned back some shrubs and picked up mounds of garbage, leaf debris, and a disgusting amount a cigarette butts. All I have to say is I witnessed some server lazy habbits! We did some tree pruning, trimmimg back limbs that may “POKE somebodys eye out”, damaged limbs and as many of the little nasty stubs Mike hated so much. Removing debris from the beds was a big part of our weekend and I learned something…much like trees and turf don’t mix, neither do mulch and pebbles. I think someone missed the design flaw there.

We did some learning this weekend too. It wasn’t all work and no play. On the Magnolia in the front right bed of the courtyard there appears to be a black mold growing on the trunk of the tree which is scale. In addition to the Magnolia situation we learned about another disease, but I’ll let Josh explain that one.

One other diease that Candice and I lerned about was fasciation. Fasciation or also commonly called “cresting” is a rare condition which causes abnormal growth within the vascular cambium. The apical meristem which typically focuses growth at a single point in any other healthy plant is what usally happens, but with fasciation it becomes elongated perpendiculary to the direction of growth which is what produces the flattened or crested like look. Fasciation can be caused by an hermonal imbalance but can also be caused by genetic mutaion or by bacterial and viral infesctions.

All in all, aside from working in what I will forever refer to as the “Wind Tunnel Of Doom”, I think we turned “D” courtyard back into a place that can be sat in and enjoyed by all the students and staff here at Fanshawe College. Now if we can just get around to fixing up that wisteria.