Triangle Palm

This past week the Horticulture staff transplanted a Triangle Palm, Dypsis decaryi into the Palm Dome. There is currently an older Triangle Palm in a nearby location which is almost touching the ceiling. Triangle Palms can grow to about 50 feet in height. At some point the older Triangle Palm will need to be cut down because of it's height. We want to get this younger palm established so that we can continue to have this variety of palm on display. It has a very unique shape. This palm doesn't transplant well but is a fast grower once it is established.

The Trianle Palm in native to the Madagascan rainforest. The fruits are high in nutritional value. This is an attractive plant and we hope you get a chance to see this palm in it's new location.

Inga

It has been a couple of years since the Inga Tree has been pruned in Tropical Encounters. Pruning is an involved process because we have to bring out tall ladders and extendable pruning tools. It is sometimes difficult to maneuver ladders in the plant beds because of plant material in the beds and the unlevel soil in the beds. The Inga in a very vigorous growing plant so we did prune it back quite hard. It well grow back quickly. There were also vines growing in the Inga which we wanted to remove.

Ice Cream Bean is another name for this plant because the seed pod looks like a bean and parts of the pod tastes like vanilla ice cream. Inga is a companion plant for shade grown coffee because it grows so tall. Birds like to sit on this tree because it is such a tall plant in the Tropical Encounters exhibit.

Sunken Garden Holiday Show

This week horticulture staff have been busily creating the Sunken Garden Holiday Flower Show. The mums and accent plants that made up the Fall Flower Show were removed Monday morning with the help of 10 volunteers. After that the beds were prepped and the poinsettias came rolling in. Staff worked from a hand-drawn plan to place the plant material. The poinsettia pallette is a very traditional red and ivory, with accents of multicolered coleus, purple alyssum, and juncus.

The conservatory received its poisettia crop as rooted cuttings in June, and staff have diligently grown them in the greenhouse. Poinsettias are subjected to shortened day lengths to stimulate the growth of their characteristic brightly colored bracts. Despite their popularity during the coldest time period in our climate, poinsettias are actually native to Central America and love warm temperatures. When you visit the Sunken Garden during the Holiday Flower Show, you will surely enjoy a warm, festive retreat.

Brrrrr!!!!

Well, in case you didn't notice, it seems as though winter is here to stay! We had a wet heavy snow move through on the 13th that caused quite a bit of damage to some mature trees around campus. We filled 5 or 6 dump trucks full of debris to be hauled away to compost. We also had our cities forestry crew come in to take care of broken and damaged branches that we could not reach up in the canopy of many trees. A lot of the branches were buried by the icy heavy snow, and will have to be cleaned up in the spring once all of the snow melts.

In addition to storm cleanup, our outside crew is putting some final touches on grounds before they leave for the winter. One easy way to spruce up a somewhat dismal landscape is to put out some winter display containers. Using only materials found on grounds (most from that storm damage), and using cut-back perennial materials, we have put together some pots in front of our office building on the zoo. We used cuttings from evergreens including white pine, Chamaecyparis, and a Douglas Fir with interesting pine cones. We also used cuttings of red-twigged dogwood, miscanthus flame grass (silver plumes), and chasmanthium (oat-like seed heads). Using all of this material, we arranged the cuttings in a pot of soil, and then watered it in. These plants are no longer alive, and don't need water, but the cold temperatures will cause all of that water to freeze, and hold everything right in its place. The best part about these displays are that they are free! You might not have all of these materials in your yard, but think about what you do have. Any everygreen branches will provide color and structure all winter. Grasses add a flowing look, and many hold up all winter long. Colorful branches, such as the dogwoods are a great added touch. Also, any plant with berries adds that extra pop (if the birds don't eat them all!). You can also find some interesting curly willow, or branches with a unique form and structure to add interest. Hopefully this will inspire some of you to try out a beautiful winter display of your own!

What's happening with hydrangeas?

This week horticulture staff are begining to remove all the leaves from next spring's hydrangea crop. You may be wondering why we would remove all the leaves from perfectly healthy plants. Hydrangea plants need to undergo a dormancy in order to flower. Outside, they would go dormant in the winter when temperatures drop. In the greenhouse we have to fake that seasonal change. When they go into dormancy, hydrangeas lose most of their leaves, so taking them off ahead of time reduces the mess later. Not doing so could result in old, dead leaves accumulating and harboring disease.

Hydrangeas are a major feature of the Conservatory's Spring Flower Show and require nearly 10 months of care before they go on display. The conservatory starts all of our hydrangeas from unrooted cuttings we receive in the middle of June. We grow them up through the summer and let them set buds before providing the dormancy the will need to flower. The hydrangeas will be dormant in a cold area of the greenhouse for approximately eight weeks. Then they are moved to a warmer spot where they can begin actively growing again and flowering. Horticulture staff use specially timed "feedings" of ammonium sulfate to ensure the development of blue flowers. This year we are growing mostly a variety called 'Oregon Pride.' This is a variety we have used successfully in past years. We are also experimenting with eight new varieties to see if they perform as well (or better!) than our traditional selections. Look for these hydrangeas in the Sunken Garden next spring.

Planning Annuals

This is the time of year for raking leaves, cleaning up garden beds, and believe it or not, planning and ordering our plants for next year. Right now our outside gardening staff is hard at work, planning, designing planters and beds, and picking out fun and exciting plants for next years displays. We aquire many different catalogs from various growers and suppliers around the country, which is where we get ideas for great combinations and new varieties that have been released.

Some of the areas that we plan for include: the double sidewalk in front of the visitors center, the Skipper and Enchanted butterfly gardens, and various container plantings all over conservatory and zoo garden areas. Along with planning for our areas, we also grow plants for other gardens in the city, inluding some of the City of St. Paul golf courses. For those areas we grow about 75 flats of plants, and about 100 4-1/2" plant material. We probably grow about 2.5 times that number for our gardens alone.

We then put together a large list of plants to order, and then our indoor staff recieves shipments throughout the winter and spring. They then take care of planting the seeds. Sometimes we also get plugs of plants, which then need to be transplanted into larger containers. By careful timing with seeding, and different greenhouse conditions, the plants are all rooted in and ready to be planted in the ground or a container in the spring!

The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory recently was awarded a $400 grant from the Mid-America Orchid Congress (MAOC). The receipt of this grant is based on our active efforts to promote orchid conservation and awareness. The classes, talks, and displays we offer provide examples of primarily neo-tropical (Central and South American) specimens. Our weekly Gardener Talks on orchids are also an opportunity for the public to ask questions, see our plants up-close and learn more about the Conservatory's collection. Since 2003, The Conservatory has been a designated Plant Rescue Center through a program administered by the U.S. Fish and Willdlife Service. In doing so, we provide a site for the care and conservation of illegally imported orchids, among other tropical plants. These plants remain a part of our collection, and will not be sold for profit. Our participation in this conservation effort, combined with our non-profit status and the educational experiences we offer has made us eligible for this grant. The MAOC is an organization of orchid societies and works to promote worldwide orchid conservation. We appreciate their consideration of our institution and are honored to receive their grant. This money will be used for the purchase of additional orchid species that enhance the diversity of our orchid collection.

Saving Echeveria

This time of year many of our plants outside are either being cut back to the ground for winter, or some tender, non-hardy plants are taken inside to be saved for next year. One example of a plant we save is our Echeveria. Echevaria is a large genus of succulents with many drought tolerant species. These plants form rosettes of succulent leaves on a fleshy stem.

We use about 50 flats of these Echeveria in our display at Gates Ajar every year. These plants work great to form the detailed symbols on the Gates. When we plant them in the wall we cut all of the roots off and just stick a little stub of the stem into the soil. These plants quickly form new roots and attach themselves to the wall.

We harvest the Echeveria off of the wall by simply pulling them out. Once back to the greenhouse, staff and volunteers clean up the old leaves, cut the roots off, and stick them in flats of soil to grow in the greenhouse until we need them outside next spring!

Fall Flower Show Featured on Fox-9 With Dale K.

The Fall Leaves are Falling

If you haven't already noticed, the leaves are changing into their beautiful fall colors, and many have already fallen to the ground. Do you know why the leaves change color in the fall? There are a couple of things happening as the days shorten, and the fall nights get cooler. The production of the large amounts of food, or sugars the plant was making throughout the summer begins to slow down. The chloroplasts that make this food are what gives plants their green color. Once these cells shut down, the green color on the leaves slowly fades away. What is left are some other pigments that have likely been in the plant the whole time, but masked by the powerful chlorophyll. These pigments called anthocyanins, and give a nice red or purple color. Other pigments form other common fall colors. The orange colors come from carotene and the yellows from xanthophyll, other common plant pigments. This year we have had perfect weather for brilliant fall colors. Dry weather with warm sunny days, and cool nights enhance this process, and therefore enhance the colorful pigments we see.

The leaf 'stem', or petiole is also going through a change this time of the year. There are certain cells that are found where the leaf attaches to the tree that start to break down, and eventually the leaf falls off. That's when our job begins (after we enjoy the color of course), and raking and bagging leaves become a big part of our fall clean up. Hopefully you have had the chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall we have had!