Weekend Practical Blog - April 12-14, 2013

The Gardens of Fanshawe College

Nick Amyotte & Ashly Haagsman

            Our overall experience at Fanshawe this weekend was a great experience and also successful. We managed our time accordingly and complete the tasks assigned to our best abilities. Our first job was to clean up and prune to some plants in the Louise Weeks Garden. We started by raking any debris out of the beds and removing the garbage and litter. We then pruned some Euonymus fortunei, pruning any overhanging branches and branches stemming upwards.

 We then cut back some Hydrangea arborescens “Anebell”, leaving roughly 6” of the plant remaining. A Prunus subhirtella needed attention and we removed any interfering branches and thinned it out where needed. A Wisteria floribunda is the tree we touched next removing and “whips” hanging too long, pruning back to 3-5 buds from the trunk.

 We finished in the garden by sweeping any debris and gravel from the walkways. The next set of garden beds that were tacked were the ones located outside the Fanshawe College BLVD. main gates and the beds separating the roads into and out of the college. All ornamental grasses were cut back in a mounding form to 6”. Next we cut back all sedums in the same fashion as the grasses. We then pruned some Rhododendron shrubs to maintain form. Once the entrance beds were cleaned from debris, weeded, and plants properly cultured the backpack blower was used to clear gravel from the sidewalk and concrete.

 We then moved into the long narrow beds separating the roads in the college. These beds were filled with Hemerocallis. We removed all dead parts of the plant and raked out the grass matted within the plant. All leaves, debris, weeds, and garbage were also taken out and removed from the beds.

 The final beds that were worked on were located right behind residents building 1 (R1). In these beds all debris, weeds, and leaves were removed first. Next the beds were solely filled with Iris pumila and those were cleaned up and dead portions were removed.

 A bed located just north of the Iris beds had some Hostas that needed to be raked up and the bed cleaned from debris. Once the bed was cleaned, the concrete section had weeds in the cracks, and leaves scattered across it. All weeds were removed and the backpack blower was used to clear the surface of debris.

 Cleaning all tools used over the weekend finished off the day, as well as power washing the Kubota RTV and sweeping the tractor bay. After completing the weekend at Fanshawe performing maintenance we learned that time management and prioritizing beds and plants is essential. It is important to complete the more high priority areas first. Time management and prioritizing is a crucial aspect to a successful landscape maintenance crew.