July 24, 2014 - Sara Hopkins

The Poinsettias Have Arrived!

The annual beds and planters are growing splendidly including the flag pole bedwhere the Cana Lilies are starting to bloom. I truly enjoy the mix of Canas with Castor Beans in the garden bed outside the greenhouse. Some on campus have had a misfortunate encounter with a squirrel who has shredded their leaves. Japanese Beetles also find them to be quite tasty.

 

800 Poinsettia plugs arrived this week safely packed in boxes. Amongst the traditional ‘Prestige Red’ and ‘Maroon’ we have some interesting and unique cultivars including ‘Christmas Nostalgia’, ‘Polar Bear’ and ‘Jingle Bells’. They have all been potted up, watered and fertilized uniformly.

The weaker cultivars have been placed on top of heating pads on the benches. Keeping media warm promotes root growth and keeps the plants out of stress. It is important to keep up on the watering as the media dries out quicker.

As I am going into second year come Autumn I am quite blessed to see the crop my class will growing and selling from day 1 of arrival. I feel this summer has already been full of great learning adventures.

July 14, 2014 - Sara Hopkins

 

Here's a sneak peek into Fanshawe College Gardens!

Lots of hard work over the last twelve weeks have gone into the gardens and now we are seeing the beautiful big picture of what has been accomplished. We have been maintaining D courtyard, the bus stop loop by H,M,F and the residences this week. With the weeds subdued, the flowers are looking brilliant! All the lilies are in full bloom- my favourite is the Foxtail Lily which can be found outside the Office of the Registrar.

 

In the Woodland Garden there has been a lot of editing and division. Some plants lsuch as lambs easr just spread and pop up everywhere that you did not intend. Under the paver path runs an irrigation line which unfortunately had a leak this summer and was quickly repaired. It’s amazing to see how easily the pavers lift up and can be replaced with little to no damage.

 

We also have started our pot-in-production of fall Mums. Stringline and measuring tapes were used to space the pots evenly throughout the bed. Holes were dug and pots leveled for even watering. It is suggested that after two inches more of growth to perform a soft pinch on all apical buds.

As you can see in the picture the greenhouse is empty of all plants. The greenhouse has been sterilized along with all tools required for the incoming poinsiettia crop to ensure a clean environment before they arrive.

The Gardens of Fanshawe College

By Katlyn Vanderweyden

        The week of July 2^nd to 4^th was a short one but I’m not complaining. We had three solid days of fun removing weeds down at Z building, pruning and parking lot cleanup but the dream team strikes again. We managed to remove all those pesky perennial weeds (they keep putting up a fight) but Z building look beautiful again.

        Meanwhile, on main campus; Hilary was working hard on the College's interiorscape adding plants to the current planters to give them a little upgrade and bringing a little more fullness to them. 

 

Jeff has been in the greenhouse shutting it down and is ready to disinfect it in preparation for our poinsettia crop. 

While we wait for them we are currently growing our summer crop of chrysanthemums. We are growing them on outside in a pot in pot growing system which is very efficient.

 

       Keep poseted to our blog and come on by to check them out in a month at the Spriet Family Greenhouse when they will be ready for sale! 

So this concludes another short but sweet week at Fanshawe College..... until next time my friends.