Winter pruning

The horticulture staff has been busy this week pruning trees inside the Conservatory. Pruning is essential to maintain the health of our plants and the aesthetics of our displays. Although we prune trees all year-round on an as needed basis, winter is when we do the most extensive pruning. We face unique challenges growing plants in an indoor environment versus an outdoor landscape. While plants outdoors have all gone dormant during the cold months of winter, the plants inside the warm, tropical-like Conservatory continue to actively grow. Although the temperatures inside the Conservatory remain relatively constant throughout the year, the short days of winter bring a significant decrease in the amount of sunlight that the plants receive. Much of the tree pruning we do in winter allows more light to reach the understory plants which would otherwise struggle during these months of reduced sunlight. Pruning is also necessary to control the size of our trees. The potential mature height of many of our tree species is greater than the height of the Conservatory itself. It takes a continued effort to cut back trees that would naturally grow well beyond the ceiling. We are constantly amazed at how quickly the plants grow back after being pruned. Our work is never done!

The Holiday’s are here!

The Horticulture staff has been busy this week installing the 2008 Holiday Flower Show in the Sunken Garden. A Typical show change lasts five days. On the first day, the previous show is dismantled, a process that only takes a few hours. It takes the remaining four days for the staff to install the new show, meticulously positioning thousands of plants to create the breathtaking floral display. This year’s show has a carousel theme to coincide with the 95th anniversary of the Cafesjian Carousel located here in Como Park. The show features six of the original wooden carousel horses in amongst the poinsettia plants. The flower beds are planted with a gradual variation in plant height to mimic the up and down movement of a carousel. The effect is a wonderful visual sensation of seeing an actual carousel in motion. This show will open on Saturday Dec. 6 and runs through Jan. 19.

Sunken Garden Carousel Show

This winter's Sunken Garden Holiday show is almost here! This year's show is unique because it will feature six carousel horses from the 95-year-old Cafesjian's Carousel. The horses are original to the carousel that was constructed on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in 1914. The carousel was removed from the fairgrounds in 1988, and has been in the pavillion at Como Park since 2000.

The featured plants of the Holiday Show are the tradtional poinsettias, with celosia, coleus, and begonias as accents. The poinsettia cultivars chosen for this show are 'Carousel Pink' and 'Carousel Dark Red', in keeping with the theme. The approximately 1000 poinsettia plants have been grown from rooted cuttings in our on-site greenhouses since early summer. The Sunken Garden will be closed the week of December 1st-5th to change out the fall mums and create the new exhibit, opening oficially on Saturday the 6th.

Winter's in the air!

It seems like only yesterday we were fighting 90 degree heat and sweating all day. Now we have dug out the long underwear and our hats and mittens, and braved our first snow of the year. The seasons have quickly changed, which means the outdoor staff's job duties change. We went from watering, to pruning; from deadheading to pulling annuals and cutting back perennials. This is the time where we rake lots of leaves, and do a lot of fall cleanup. All of the annuals get pulled out and many of the perennials will get cut back for the winter. One thing we do is collect some interesting grasses and other prennials we have cut, and make a winter display in some containers. This is an easy way to spruce up a boring container or window box that might otherwise sit vacant all winter.

The zoo and conservatory have been a bit more quiet these days. There are still plenty of things to see here, and the grounds take on a special beauty with a layer of snow on the ground. Many animals are inside for the winter now, but you can still come view them 365 days a year! Though the outdoor seasonal staffs' time here is coming to an end, soon spring will be here, and we will be back in full force.

Interns play a very important role as members of the horticulture staff at the conservatory. This week two of our interns have completed their work with us, and we are featuring an interview with Doreen, who has worked along side us since last spring.

How did you become interested in Horticulture?

Doreen: My father was a gardener in his spare time. Every spring he would have all of us kids go to the store with him to pick out seeds to plant. My favorite seeds were Celosia and Snapdragons. My father had a fabulous yard, which he built all of the gardens himself. He designed and built all of them by hand, hard work & sweat.

I got away from gardening for a few years and worked in various jobs, none of them in gardening. Always in the back of my mind, I wanted to get into the horticulture field, but did not pursue it, because of my needing the security in my current jobs. All of the houses I lived in, I had very nice gardens. My current home, we bought in 2001, and I designed most of the gardens around it. My best design was my boulder job, but I had hired a company to come in to build it. It was a traffic stopper! I had complete strangers coming by to talk to me about it, and “who designed it?" So, one day I decided I am going to go back to college to get my degree in the field.

Where did you go to school and what were the requirements involved?

Doreen: I decided that since it had been so long since I was in college, I would attend Century College in White Bear Lake. It would be a smaller setting, more adults and close to my house. Being as I was 48 years old, I decided I would go for my Associates Degree, which is a 2 year Full-time program. I was working part-time for a healthcare clinic, so it would be easier for me to do classes part-time. Also since I was not getting Financial Aid or student loans, it would be cheaper for me each semester. The program for the degree is 64 credits. Most of the classes except the generals would be in the greenhouses at the school. Century is a very “hands on college” and they have their own plant sale in the spring. All of the labor was done by the teachers and the students and the proceeds went directly back into the program along with a $1000.00 scholarship given out yearly.


How did you find out about us?

Doreen: I decided that I wanted to work eventually in a government position in horticulture because of the excellent benefits and stability. I looked online for City, County and State Jobs in horticulture. That is where I found the Intern Position that was available. I talked to my instructor at Century and was told I could use my Internship 1, 2 and 3 there. I got my paperwork together, updated my resume and got a couple of reference letters together, and sent them all in. I actually met one of the gardeners at an Orchid Society meeting, and I also knew a woman who volunteered at MMC also. So I interviewed and got the position. It started out as an unpaid position for approximately 90 hours. When the outside crew came back in the spring for the season, I was hired on as a paid intern and got an additional 180 hours towards my Internship 2 & 3. I stayed on as a paid intern almost until the end of the season; my last day was November 4th.



What was your favorite part at MMC?

Doreen: When I started, I was working on the inside with the gardeners in the Sunken Garden, the North Garden, the Fern Room, the Palm Dome and various other duties as assigned. I loved all of it. How wonderful to be “working” inside in the winter in a warm and sunny place with all of the wonderful plants and gardens. It was fabulous!

Then in late March, when the outside crew came back, I started working outside with them. I guess working outside was really my favorite part. It was always something different and new. I really loved the designing aspect of the projects, and my crew leader gave me plenty of opportunity to help plan. I also really enjoyed building the Butterfly Exhibit and planting the Gates Ajar.

Any advice for other people wanting to study Horticulture or interested in Internships

Doreen: If you have an interest, go for it, right away. Check out the various schools and see which schools have the more hands on training (It’s easier to learn). If you are interested in Internships, check out websites online, check the Como Zoo website, check with your advisors at school and get involved. Some schools have Gardening clubs.

What will you miss about us?

Doreen: I will miss the public walking by and thanking me for my work, complimenting me, or asking questions about my job. I will miss all of my co-workers thanking me for helping them. I will miss the meetings I was included in where I was part of the team and was asked for my ideas and suggestions. Most of all, I will miss the Gardens.

Thank you,
Doreen Peterson
White Bear Lake, MN

We, the horticultre staff, would like to thank Doreen, and all of our interns, for the enthusiasm, new perspectives, and help they each give us.

From here to there: Transplanting!

Due to some new construction and storage areas in the planning on zoo grounds, this week some of the horticulture staff had to find a new home for some existing shrubs and a tree located near the Visitor's Center. These shrubs have been in this area since shortly after the Visitor's Center was built about 5 years ago. We had to move one oak tree and about 30 other shrubs. To help with this task, we called in Shermik Tree Farms, located in Stacy, MN. Their company has the equipment capable of moving shrubs and trees. They came prepared with a large tree spade, a spade for a skid steer, and a U-blade for digging out shrubs.

Before any digging could be done, it's very important to locate underground utilities. Call Gopher State One Call before doing this sort of project. Their services are free, and they can be reached at (651) 454-0002. Since our project was right by a building, we had a lot of underground utilities to worry about, but once we determined it was safe to dig, things went smoothly. The gentlemen at Shermik did a very nice and efficient job for us.

It's also important to know when is the best time to transplant the type of shrubs or trees you are dealing with. Generally speaking, it is a good idea to transplant before the buds break in the spring, or in the fall until the ground is frozen. Once the leaves start to change color, or even when the leaves drop is a good time in the fall. The timing worked out perfect for us. One thing that is a bit of a challenge this late in the season is getting water to these newly transplanted shrubs. Our seasonal water lines have been turned off for the season, so we have to bucket water out to them. It is important that shrubs aren't transplanted into dry soil in the fall. They need enough moisture for them to make it through the winter. Overall this was a very successful project, and we saved some plant material from more construction.

Thinking Spring...Already?

The Conservatory's horticulture staff, along with much appreciated help from volunteers, is already preparing for next spring's Sunken Garden Flower Show. Like most of the Sunken Garden shows, we begin planning nearly a year in advance. In this case all of our bulbs for the 2009 sping show were ordered this past summer. Over 10,000 spring bulbs, including tulips, hyacinth, and narcissus, have arrived in the past few weeks and are being diligently potted up by staff and volunteers. The bulbs are planted in our "recycled" potting mix (this consists of the old rootballs and used potting media that have been ground up and pasteurized to kill any pathogens).

Once potted up, the bulbs are watered in and placed in our walk-in cooler. Here they are receive a cooling treatment that basically mimics the natural winter dormancy that the bulbs require to produce flowers. The pots remain lined up on shelves until specific times next spring when they are moved to our greenhouses and warmed to induce new gowth. This allows us to recreate the ephemeral beauty of spring in the Sunken Garden by the end of March--long before most of us Minnesotans see it in our gardens at home.

Fall Flower Show on KSTP

Bye Bye Victorias!

The victoria waterplatters are sadly coming to an end for the season. These tropical plants are native to the Amazon, and are not enjoying our cool weather here in Minnesota. Even though the water is heated to a toasty 80 degrees, it is time for them to come out. These plants all get composted when we take them out of our pools. Once they are out of the water, they dry up and get papery, and crumble. We cut off all of the pads and buds, and leave the crowns, or the growing points of the plants in the soil they are planted in. Once all of the plant material is out, we will drain the water and dig the crowns out of the soil.

The Fall Show Begins This Weekend

The conservatory staff is spending the remainder of this week completing the installation of this year's Sunken Garden Fall Flower Show. This display is predominated by chysanthemums, but also includes ornamental peppers and rex begonias.

While mums are an autumnal standard in American horticulture, they have been cultivated for thousands of years in China. The plants we grow today are hybridized versions of the original species; there are various flower shapes, colors, and habits.

The conservatory received 1600 rooted cuttings of the mums back in late June and the horticulture staff has been growing them in our greenhouses since then. Mums require short day-lengths (which are actually longer dark periods) in order to set flowers. In the 1940's growers discovered that this is the key to inducing uniform flowering on mum crops. Today, we use black shade cloths to manipulate the amount of light exposure our mums receive each day to ensure a very uniform and predictable crop. We also use cultural techniques, like bud removal, to create different growth habits. Since our greenhouse climates are carefully controlled by a computer system, we can also vary the plants' temperature exposure. This can allow us to "speed up" or "slow down" flower development as needed. All these elements help create beautiful and healthy plants for the display.

The Fall Flower Show opens this Saturday, October 11, at 10 a.m. Be sure to visit the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory's Sunken Garden to enjoy this lovely display.