WildflowersNShiny Things

Hellam Hellebore

2012-02-11T14:06:00.000-05:00

Last fall, specifically September 7th was horrible for us here in PA....we had floods that did damage to property that hadn't been seen since Hurricane Agnes almost 40 years ago. These hellebores made it through the flood. Hopefully, they will make it through the snow that we are getting.

Paperwhite Narcissus

2012-02-06T18:10:00.000-05:00

Horticulture therapy is a practice that is a valued modality in "providing treatment to individuals with physical or mental disabilities. Some of the techniques used include "creating sensory-stimulation environments with plants selected for fragrance texture and color." (AHTA website, FAQ sheet)

A good horticulture therapy exercise is the forcing of narcissus bulbs...as they awaken more than one sense! Narcissus are great because they do not require advance chilling to get the bulbs to bloom indoors. This is an activity that uses gross motor movements, has a low cost, low maintenance, and quick results. I picked up 2 boxes of paperwhite narcissus that were on the clearance table at Lowe's(pictured below) and proceeded to awake the magic that is locked up inside by following the instructions written on the outside of the box.

In case you are doing this activity from scratch, you will need:

Healthy paperwhite narcissus bulbs. Bulbs that are close together will keep each other from falling over.

A container that is 3 to 4 inches deep ( I used a 6 in plastic pot) with no drainage holes

Medium for growing.... stones, gravel, glass pebbles. My box contained coir disks. They are compressed coir that expands when soaked in warm water to about 3 times its compressed state.

If this is for a timed display, start this process about 6 weeks before bloom time. Spread an inch or 2 of either one of these: coir/stones/glass pebbles/gravel, along the bottom of the container.
Position your narcissus bulbs pointed end up (roots down) on top of the stone layer.
Add another layer of coir/stones/gravel/glass pebblesin any gaps and cover the bulbs up to their shoulders. The pointed tips should still be showing.
Add water so that the level just reaches the base of the bulbs. Allowing the bottom of the bulb to sit in water will stimulate growth. Covering the entire bulb with water could cause it to rot.
The bulbs don’t need light at this point and they prefer to be kept on the cool side, at about 65 degrees F (18 degrees C.)
Check your bulbs daily to see if they need more water.
When you see roots developing, move the container to a sunny window.
Once the plants flower, they will last longer if moved out of direct sunlight, to a cool spot with indirect or diffused light.

Enjoy!

Amaryllis

2012-02-05T09:21:00.000-05:00

A dash of color to brighten the dreary winter Sunday:

Nepanthes

2012-02-02T19:49:00.000-05:00

My BF loves carnivorous plants. Longwood Gardens has a excellant healthy specimen of a Nepanthes. I have been told that in the tropics some species of this plant grow so large as to be able to digest rodents.

Powdery Mildew on Rosemary Standard

2012-01-30T19:13:00.000-05:00

My standard rosemary plant was doing so well this summer. I don't have a picture in its glory. Living in Central PA, I brought the plant inside and put it on the bench in the south facing window.

It kind of looked like this on the left , (from google.com)

And to my dismay, it has become leggy, brown in the middle, and silver all over. I went to my trust internet websites... and it has been diagnosed with powdery mildew. ACK! What to do? According to several helpful folks, I have pruned out the dead and sprayed it with baking soda and water solution. Sniff.... this is it now.... picture on the right.

Hurry up warm weather so I can get it outside again!

Library Books on your Ipod (E-Books)

2012-01-22T20:44:00.000-05:00

Enables the library patron to download selected books from their audiobook collection onto various digital reading devices.

At this website you can checkout and download…
•Kindle Books
•Adobe EPUB eBooks
•Adobe PDF eBooks
•OverDrive WMA Audiobooks
•OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks

To checkout and download you need…

•A computer or device that meets the system requirements for the type(s) of materials you wish to download

•Free software for the computer or device on which you wish to use the materials available at this site

I found this an incredible service for a library patron like me who has a long commute and could benefit from downloading these books via internet at home.

Support your local libraries!!

MLK birthday at Longwood Gardens

2012-01-17T19:57:00.002-05:00

Look up to the ceiling... it was a beautiful day but frigidly cold...somewhere around the mid 20's.

2012-01-10T19:33:00.002-05:00

Thinking of developing a store in Etsy.com. Has anyone have stories to share? Yes, no??

I think some folks are very entreprenuerial... and very creative. Here are a few that I have come across:

For all of you with dogs with cropped tails, here is a place that sells little covers so there is no more "mr. brown eye." AWWW!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88258410/rear-gear-butt-covers-for-your-dog-or?ref=sr_gallery_31&sref=&ga_search_query=dog&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

This must be for the person who has EVERYTHING... Monograms for toilet seats!!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/58625956/the-throne-monogram-toilet-decal

But seriously, I wanted to combine my metalworking of silverware into jewelry. Maybe put a nature slash gardening theme to it or at least on the page. I like the message of these signs... its kind of why I went into horticulture therapy so I wanted to include it here also:

It seems rather challenging to keep up a clientele, how not to get ripped off? So many questions, please let me know what your experiences have been!

k

Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread Recipe - Food.com - 30602

2012-01-09T19:16:00.000-05:00

This is the picture from Food.com... and my bread turned out exactly like this. Love when that happens.

I made this recipe Saturday evening and we had some for breakfast Sunday morning.

Today, Monday, I thought I would go back and get another slice. All gone.

To proof my original starter (I used my one cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter from a friend), I just mixed 2 cups water and 2 cups flour with the remainder of starter and left it out uncovered overnight. I then just used 2 cups of the mixture and put the remainder in a clean mason jar in the refrigerator. My mom says that you can keep a starter in the refrigerator for a few weeks before the yeast cultures die. I have only kept it in the fridge so far with success.

This can be made in a breadmaker using the dough setting. I put it on 2 pound setting and followed the ingredients exactly. I did as the recipe indicates which is to let it rise out of the breadmake etc. I did increase the bake time to 40-50 minutes.

Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread Recipe - Food.com - 30602

Good recipe from Food.com.

Happy Baking!

J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 140

2012-01-04T21:54:00.000-05:00

As I continue to practise, I reach slowly towards classical pieces of music that I can now participate and enjoy playing. I marvel at how I did not care to practise as a youth when I had time. Now as an adult when I don't have that much time, I want to practise more.

Little bit new with the old

2012-01-03T22:38:00.000-05:00

Besides the obvious that its a New Year, I decided to edit the old page with a blended title, and a new picture of lights in Longwood Gardens. Here's the update:

Still have crazy back pains but have found relief with a great chiropractor and medication management for nueropathic pain/fibromyalgia.

Figured out to get rid of my plantar fasciatis by wearing DANSKO clogs.

Still work for the Department of Veteran Affairs but in the role of casemanager and intake person. I sit most of the day but still am involved with helping veterans return back to the community.

Gardening is relegated to houseplants at my house. I garden with my other half in York County PA and plan to relocate there when the teenager graduates in May of 2013.

Still play the cello.... have progressed to a point where I can play with other beginners and make music.

Have another hobby - making jewelry out of silver plated flatware.

K

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

2010-04-24T08:08:00.000-04:00

I think it is time for me to leave my horticulture vocation and return to it as a passion. I can do gardening on the weekends and occassionally during the week. When I started gardening full time, I was uncertain how the constant movement would effect my scoliosis and arthritis. I became passionately involved in this line of work. However, each season brought forth more and more limitations. This season has brought a return of the sciatica in my left leg in addition to plantar fasciatis. It has also brought forth a series of work demands that I can not keep up with. It saddens me to leave now but I have to consider my health for the long run. I will continue to work with veterans vocationally in a different capacity and perhaps sneak in some vocational groups on gardening somehow so I still can get keep "grounded" . I won't therefore be continuing with this blog. Here are the verses that keep me going in my times of change:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Thank you all,

Kathy

Weedy Thoughts

2010-04-11T20:55:00.001-04:00

Wild African Violets on the Woodland Floor... reminds me of the bits and pieces of truth amongst the confusion of conversations with my patients. Friday, one of my patients had this nugget of a question while he was seeding zinnia seeds:

Why is it that married men will say that their best friend is their wife yet married women will say that one of their girlfriends is THEIR best friend? Seems a little bit problematic!

Hmmm... I don't know. do you?

"Snow Fountain Cherry" followup

2010-04-06T21:46:00.001-04:00

This is Lea's tree that my guys and I planted almost a year ago in memory of a greatly loved coworker. It was in bloom last week when I snapped this picture and I hope her husband came by to see the tree. It really is a showpiece for this water garden. I am so thankful that it made it through our terrible February. If I do say so myself, I picked a good specimen.

Budding Cellos...

2010-04-01T06:01:00.000-04:00

I know I won't be a great cellist... but at least the dogs don't howl when I start practising as they once did almost a year ago when I first started playing.

I got up with the alarm clock at 4:50 am this morning to practise my cello. It brings forth the ironies of life:

How ironic is that I struggle to find time to practise my cello at age 46. When I was younger and had all the time in the world, I was not interested in practising ANY instrument.

Sigh.

Going to spend a wonderful day working on cleaning up the flowerbeds with the Horticulture crew.

Feeling Rather Cold and Wet

2010-03-30T15:49:00.000-04:00

Watching the steady rain alternate with snow. Spent the day holed up the greenhouse, transplanting marigolds, making hanging baskets, transplanting celosia into big 8 inch planters. Will be outside I am sure on Thursday and maybe Friday.

My daughter took it's picture while we were visiting "That Fish Place" in Centerville, PA. Hope it doesn't get this wet!!

Easy Table Arrangements...

2010-03-29T10:56:00.000-04:00

Here is an easy table arrangement, gift basket, or pickme up to make. We are having the veterans make these arrangements for customers to purchase.

Supplies:

One 7 in basket
1 pre-made liner or foil/cello liner
2 tete daffodils, potted, 4 inch pots
1 Hyacinth, potted, 4 inch pot
1 variegated ivy, 4 inch pot

potting soil
spanish moss
ribbon
decorative picks

I made my own liner out of decorative foil and put a complimentary color of cello over the foil. All plants I removed from their pots. Then I placed the daffodils in on opposing sides of the handle. Place a hyacinth in front of the daffodils but on one side with the ivy being on the other side. This should fill the basket. Back fill the dirt around the bulbs and plants. Put spanish moss on the top of the potting soils. Make a large ribbon and place in the front to one side with a decorative pick on the other side of the arrangement.

Men like Gardenias

2010-03-26T15:45:00.000-04:00

Different plants attract different people. I am pleasantly surprised how many men love the smell of blooming gardenias.

I bought some last week from our wholesale vendor... and they have been bursting forth with their intoxicating smell.

On the Horticulture Therapy forefront, we had a couple of "sessions" while raking and cleaning out the flower beds. The most intriguing session had to do with dealing with a family of muli ethnic backgrounds. And how this multi ethnic background is reflected in one's attempt to get clean and sober. Sobriety is defined very differently in different cultures.

Interesting.

Not my own photo but from Google... not used for financial gain...

Happy Spring!

Easter Lilies

2010-03-24T16:07:00.000-04:00

The shop smells fabulous... lilies are blooming, gardenias are starting to open, and we also have potted hyacinths and mini daffodils.

I have 3 areas that I am working with... the Flower Shoppe, The Greenhouse, and The FlowerBeds on campus. Everyone wants something and they don't all coincide. What fun!

Seeding Marigolds and Zinnias....already.

2010-03-23T19:10:00.000-04:00

After rumbling through the aisles of my local Lowe's, I realized that people are going to want to start planting their annuals within 5 weeks. It may not be the right time weatherwise, but folks like to do what they like to do when they want to do it!

So, today I had the vets start marigold seeds. Two different varieties... Crackerjack and French Mix. Last year we put the CrackerJack Marigolds along with Cut and Come Again Zinnias in the half whisky barrels around the facility. Was a big hit. The zinnias really took off... but the yellow flowers in this picture are the Marigolds. This is the picture from last year.

This year, I have had a success with Dusty Miller... it is taking over the greenhouse... hmm... maybe the ageratum by the flagpole will be mixed with dusty miller. And the gazillions of French Mix marigolds will go in the barrels.

Stay tuned.

snowdrops and crocus

2010-03-21T17:11:00.007-04:00

On Wednesday of last week in the midst of a wonderful flukish burst of Spring, I took pictures of the snowdrops blooming against the retaining wall of the garden around the flagpole. As usual, I took vets with me to observe the awakening of the bulbs that have been planted by previous HT patients. This past fall when over a 1000 of these bulbs were planted, I was on my way to recovery from a Hysterectomy. I also took a picture of the crocus blooming under the crab apple trees by the road. So, One of the vets was definitely a man of Philadelphia (born and raised) and had never "seen" these flowers. Well, he said "I never noticed them." Yes, isn't that the way with many things...

It is one of my favorite things to release via the Horticulture program ... the joy of the Earth - the trees, the flowers, the animals.

I found this wonderful poem that I feel explains my feelings about the coming of Spring this year.

Sweet Spring

When the gloomy gray sky turns to clear azure blue,
And the snow disappears from the ground,
When the birds start to sing, and our moods start to lift,
Then we know Spring is coming around.

When the first flower bulbs poke their heads toward the sun,
Golden daffodils, hyacinths, too;
When the brown grass turns green, and the wildflowers bloom,
Then sweet Spring makes its showy debut.

Once again we awake from cold winter's pale dream,
As our minds and our bodies revive;
We rejoice and delight in spring’s colorful sight;
Each new spring makes us glad we’re alive!

By Joanna Fuchs

Enjoy that the Earth is awakening on the East Coast from a horrible February.

Thanks for visiting,

Kathy

Shutter Island

2010-03-14T20:47:00.005-04:00

Saw the movie... has obvious references to Horticulture Therapy around the grounds of the State Mental Institution.

Intense Movie.

Disturbing references to the practise of lobotomizing mentally ill patients.

DiCaprio has really grown up as an actor.

2010-03-11T14:28:00.005-05:00

The wall mosaic entitled Recovery Tree is filling in slowly. It is a project that is time consuming but is something that everyone can take a part of in the Horticulture Program.

A couple of the veterans have been dealing with some of the "gnarled branches" of recovery... dealing with illness (both mental and physical), dealing with families that are not in recovery, dealing with baggage of the past in the forms of fines, back obligations, and loss of material items.

But we are still here...

Zygo cactus blooming? Spinach bolting? Wha??

2010-03-09T12:59:00.005-05:00

The zygo cactus aka "Christmas Cactus" has decided to bloom now. Should ANYONE be suprised? I mean, things around here have their own cycle of life and that goes for the plants too!

Here is a conversation that I found humorous and yet profound:

Veteran: "Hey Kathy, I see that the spinach are doing better over here (smaller and cooler greenhouse). They are getting bigger and not putting out the seeds."

Me: "Yes, they like it over here better but I am pinching off the seeds of of the plant that's why you don't see the pods. You know, when a plant does this because of heat, it is referred to as 'bolting'

Veteran: "Oh. We refer to as maturing. You know, its like the veterans here at the VA... we are maturing. Some of us are going to seed too. Maybe, we just need more heat so that we will mature faster!"

LOL...

Keep your spinach cool and Happy Gardening!

Mosaic Clay Pots

2010-03-08T20:24:00.005-05:00

Here is my twist on Mosaic Tile clay pots...

Start with one clay pot. Put "recycled" ceramics and glass beads on clay pots with tile adhesive. Let dry for a few days. Then grout using a recipe of one part water to two parts grout mix. use a terry cloth for getting the major grout off and then a sponge to fine tune the grout around the tile. That terry cloth rag is good for polishing up the tiles of any extraneous grout.

Viola!

We get donations from the recreation therapy clinics of unwanted ceramics and we "recycle" them in various ways. As you have seen in earlier posts, we put the ceramics pieces and make wall art. This is the latest rendition of recycling ceramics. These ceramics are unwanted items that have been painted and fired. Usually, the ceramics are monotone and painted by veterans in the hospice or dementia clinic. We don't care that they are all one color... that makes it easier to sort colors.

It is great to see such creativity out of some macho guys....

Spring where are you?

2010-03-01T15:49:00.008-05:00

We are really having the Spring Fever around here... the snow storms have been horrific this year with more snowfall in February that ever!

I have been doing my part to combat the Seasonal Affective Disorder brought on by incessant snowstorms and grey days by seeding up and transplanting seedlings with 6 veterans and one assistant none of whom have done this work consistently. We have grown a variety of stuff. Of course, there is the Romaine Lettuce (2 crops) which is standing pretty tall and spinach which is really trying.

We have Celosia (the first crop is pictured here in two phases). The First picture is 2.12 and the second is 2.27.10.

We also have many other seedlings ...

Basil (picture on the right hand side) oregano (pictured to the left),

parsley, dill and cilantro.

We are going to have a large sale in the area of the Medical Center where the canteen (a junk food haven), cafeteria, and dining room are located. Hopefully, people will come out and buy the herbs to keep in a sunny room as they are cheaper than buying them in the grocery store for gourmet cooking.

In and amongst all these seedlings, we have had serious discussions about appropriate work behaviors. Ie. Working next to others who work at different paces than you, attendance, punctuality, appropriate topics for discussion in mixed company... oh, the list is long.

Yes... the growing season has begun in the GREENHOUSE!!

New Mode of Winter Transportation

2010-02-07T13:33:00.007-05:00

This doesn't have much to do with horticulture therapy, but it was a cool shot. Yesterday, while walking around in the 24+ inches of snow, I saw the ultimate in Amish winter transportation (we are neighbors in these parts) ... a horse pulled sleigh. No bells, but lots of blankets!! I took this picture, it was the real deal, and they were parked in the KMART parking lot.

Help a Hospitalized Veteran

2010-02-04T16:14:00.003-05:00

I was given a couple of these kits... as another clinic closed and these were leftovers! They are really awesome and are donated from people in the community. This one is a basket which when completed, we will fill with a plant and sell in the Flowershop. Every attempt is made to have activities that are meaningful and can be related to horticulture.

Celosia and Romaine Update

2010-02-03T14:18:00.009-05:00

Celosia was seeded the week of January 12th... Here it is before it was transplanted.

Here it is transplanted in larger cells.

Romaine Lettuce was seeded during the week of January 18th. Here it is before it was transplanted.

Here it is transplanted 4 cells to a 4 inch pot.

In Horticulture Therapy, we are production oriented. Seeding is an activity is which is very challenging for some of my patients. However, no one can deny a sense of accomplishment when the seeds germinate and start growing. It will be some time before this lettuce is big enough to eat, but that is the ultimate goal.

Happy Gardening!

Abstract vs Reality

2010-02-01T20:37:00.003-05:00

The first picture is from the VA website. Compare it to the abstract mosaic...

The flagpole and the Medical Center

2010-02-01T14:55:00.005-05:00

The Medical Center has been completed along with the flagpole across from the Medical Center.

Medical Center in Mosaic

2010-01-28T15:25:00.006-05:00

This is the artistic rendition of the main building of the Medical Center which sits at the top of a hill. So, in this mural, the recovery tree is at the bottom of the hill and the Medical Center is at the top. My visual interpretation of the Recovery Tree in relationship to the building is similar to the historical genealogy "tree". From the Medical Center and its programming, comes forth Recovery for many.My Mom sent me this poem and I think it is very description of a representation of the importance of trees. The last line is a haunting refrain.

Prayer of the Woods

I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights,

The friendly shade screening you from the summer sun,

and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on.

I am the beam that holds your house,

the board of your table,

the bed on which you lie,

and the timber that builds your boat.

I am the handle of your hoe,

the door of your homestead,

the wood of your cradle,

and the shell of your coffin.

I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty.

'Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer:

Harm me Not.

A new path towards recovery

2010-01-25T12:09:00.005-05:00

The veteran who is working on the mosaic wall made artistic changes to the tree. So, here is the finished tree. Artistic burnout he said....

I took off the black grease pencil markings for the tree. With the tree finished, we still have a large panel that needs something in it...

So I sketched a artistic rendition of the Medical Center. I am not an artist, but someone has to keep this mosaic going!! The saga continues.

Recovery Tree Mosaic update

2010-01-22T11:38:00.003-05:00

The tree is growing... you should see it in the afternoon sun...

Hopeless Case #2

2010-01-21T19:43:00.001-05:00

My patients, their friends, and the staff of the medical center have been bringing in examples of plant neglect for a potential "cure". This has been a constant, but I only have thought it was funny (in my twisted sense) as of late and therefore, it has become blog fodder. So let's start with the good.

Here is a healthy Dracaena Lemon Lime Warnickii that we sell in the shoppe.

Now, are you ready? The following picture is unedited... and is graphic in nature as we quickly slip into the ugly... the bad.

And here is the one that came in with one of my patients. The patients were astounded and confounded as to what could have caused this problem. I am not sure but I think it is the classic water torture method. Ha.... First, the newbie buys said plant but usually forgets to water the plant. This causes feelings of guilt causing said newbie to demonstrate their committment to the plant and they basically start to overwater the plant. The overwatering causes the plant to start rotting hence the cark brown leaves. Then the underwatering starts because of the rotting and the vicious cycle quicly spirals to this.

Any other ideas.

There were 2 leaves... that appear to be somewhat new. All other leaves were removed. We'll see, it may have been too late.

k

Sand Art Creations 2010

2010-01-20T09:50:00.003-05:00

While I was out on leave, the patients made another round of sand art creations. We planted cactus on them... I think they are beautiful. Although this was an activity that was "crafty" it is something that can become a hobby or a means to relax and not relapse. We sold all the ones that the vets made last year and hope to sell the remaining ones (there were twice as many as in the picture).

Happy Gardening!

Getting ready for the next floral holiday... Valentine's Day.

Celosia

2010-01-18T18:31:00.002-05:00

The Celosia germinated in 3 days. I tented it for the weekend. Stopped by today, it is still standing tall and has definitely 2 leaves and is ready to be thinned.

We also planted Romaine lettuce on Thursday and that was up too. I plan to use that as a whole lesson plan itself. Seeding to the dinner plate... the whole deal. I will gladly bring in salad dressing and croutons for that day.

My co-worker said that the patients don't really care for seeding projects. It is monotonous... but it sure beats freezing. Maybe the Romaine lettuce project will change their mind when they get to eat what they planted?

Thanks,

K

Recovery Tree (in Mosaic)

2010-01-13T14:36:00.005-05:00

The patients in the Horticulture Therapy program here are primarily referred from programs affiliated with substance abuse and/or homelessness. Although not a licensed addiction therapist, I try to provide constructive advice regarding living a life that is productive and clean and sober. I also try to have activities that are meaningful, have purpose (ie will be sold to customers or will decorate something) and can translate to hobbies that can be worked on in their own personal lives.

In the Flower Shoppe, customers have been few lately and therefore work for the patients is slow. It's that time of year after Christmas and before Valentine's Day. I decided to breath life into the mosaic projects which are dear to my heart ... especially one of the bigger projects. We take ceramics from the recreation clinics that veterans have left behind and smash them up into small pieces and adhere them to various items with Tile Adhesive. We have covered the laminate on old work benches so far. We have started working on clay pots.... In October I received an award from the Recycling Committee for a creative use of pots into mosaic art and I am very proud of this.

Since last year, I couldn't get the veterans to initiate a creative masterpiece on any of the workbenches. So today I just drew the outline of a tree on the workbench and dubbed it the Recovery Tree. I started working on it with another veteran. Now, I have someone working on it by themselves, and it is coming out well.

Here is the beginning from the early conception and the last picture is at closing time today.

Horticulture Rocks!!

Time for Sunshine Therapy

2010-01-12T12:16:00.004-05:00

Time to move into the greenhouse, it's warm, and the sunshine is unfiltered. Sunshine Therapy chases away the blues, helps promote the manufacture of Vitamin D, and is necessary for starting seeds. The veterans enjoy working in the greenhouse for these reasons and more.

It also keeps my big mouth out of trouble with the Powers That Be and Know All here...

Working on seeding up some Celosia (see picture above) which I want to get flowering . This picture was not taken by me... and is posted on Google.

Belated Happy New YEAR from a wannabe plant miracle worker!!

2010-01-08T15:53:00.010-05:00

I'm not a plant miracle worker just a vocational counselor who is a registered horticulture therapist ... but wouldn't that be something if I was the Plant Miracle Worker? Nah...too much responsibility!

We have been busy repotting everything in the flowershop that seemed to grow while the Christmas madness was going on. HT plugs along as a therapeutic program despite a lack of customers... because patients still need to have a structured work therapy program.

Friday someone brought into the shoppe two very sad plants. However, some things can not be saved. Somehow, I think that folks here think that my program can "work its magic" and save everything.

The first plant was a dieffenbachia that was sitting happily on a window ledge during the fall months. However, last weekend the window was mistakenly left open because the office was too hot and the poor plant froze. I couldn't stand to deal with it on Friday because it was such a travesty. Today, Monday... I trimmed back the dead leaves on the dieffenbachia... it does not look happy, but it does have a few leaves that are near the top that are uncurling into new growth. Perhaps, the plant will rebound without its burnt leaves. I returned to its owner who had bought another dieffenbachia to replace the first one.

The second plant was a Zygo cactus that was shrivelling in on itself. When I received the plant on Friday, there was no moisture in the soil. The soil was so dry that the dirt was pulling away from the pot and the soil was low. I changed the soil, mixed in some time release fertilizer, planted a new cactus to fill in a spot that was vacant in the existing pot and watered the poor thing. The zygo cactus also got a haircut because those shrivelled leaves had become crunchy. Oh my.

So, with so much sadness, I must show you a picture of some gorgeous Riegor Begonias that we bought from the wholesaler to sell in the Shoppe.

Happy gardening! We are going to be starting to work in the greenhouse in addition to the Flower Shoppe.

Table Arrangements

2009-12-22T19:13:00.007-05:00

This time of year is great for using some of the natural evergreens found on our campus to extend floral arrangements. We have cut silver pine and blue spruce that you can see within the arrangements. The holidays are great for bringing back family memories... family traditions. Sometimes they are happy, and unfortunately for some, the family memories are not too happy and they work to develop new memories.

This year, I have two veterans who are interested in making arrangements so we have made different kinds using different materials.

Christmas Evergreens

2009-12-19T19:03:00.004-05:00

We have been working on decorating evergreens to sell in the Flower Shoppe as part of a Horticulture Therapy project. Over the years, I have found it that it easier to buy plain mixed green wreaths, door charms, and/or swags and decorate them than to actually make the items ourselves. We have been working (not so diligently) on getting multiple tasks done on time and also on obtaining employment in the community after the assignment in completed.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Poinsettia "tree" is NOT poisonous!

2009-12-06T15:15:00.008-05:00

In the New Leaf Flower Shoppe, Christmas means evergreen wreaths, pine roping, and poinsettias. Lots and lots of poinsettias are displayed in various ways. The patients and I work on selling these items to our customers and providing free delivery to offices on campus. We also make arrangements for offices and homes, and I will try to show pictures of that soon!

This picture shows you one of my most favorite displays that I had to have after seeing it elsewhere. It is steel structure that is conical in shape. It reminds me of the cages for the hoops skirts (from http://www.trulyvictorian.com/catalog/60cat.html. Each horizontal row is hung with rings that hold individual pots. We also use this display at Easter time to display the Easter Lilies!!

Also, I want to pass along recent information that disputes an erroneous myth concerning the toxicity of poinsettias. Simply put, poinsettias... are not toxic but may cause skin irritation. Here is further information taken from the following website:

http://www.essortment.com/all/arepoinsettias_rfpo.htm

Today the National Capital Poison Center in Washington, DC and poison control centers across the country list the poinsettia as a non-poisonous plant.

According to the Madison Poison Control Center, a 50-pound child would need to ingest 500-600 poinsettia leaves to suffer ill effects of any significance – which is highly unlikely to occur. Of course, minor gastrointestinal upset may occur if a child or pet consumes the leaves, as with the consumption of any non-food product, but the plant is not a deadly poison as previously thought and will not kill a child or animal. In the worst-case scenario, the child or pet could have an upset stomach, vomiting, or diarrhea – all treatable using over-the-counter products. This was further confirmed when the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Melon University conducted a study of almost 23,000 poinsettia exposures reported to poison control centers across the country and found that none presented evidence of actual toxicity. Playing with the leaves could cause local minor skin irritation in humans, and children who play with the leaves and then rub their eyes could experience redness and irritation of the eyes. To prevent further irritation, eyes should be rinsed with lukewarm water for 10-15 minutes, and hands or body parts irritated by the plant should be washed well with soap and water. However, ingesting poinsettias is not shown to cause several stomach upset, convulsions, or other symptoms requiring emergency care. Probably the greatest threat the plants pose is the potential to obstruct a child or pet’s airway, causing choking. This holiday season, everyone can sit back and enjoy the beauty of poinsettia plants without a worry.

HAPPY GARDENING!!

A short visit to Austin

2009-12-01T18:55:00.010-05:00

Had a short trip to Austin Texas over the Thanksgiving Holiday which was absolutely fabulous. I will include a mish mash of pictures. It did help me decide to return to work part-time as walking any distance is more of an issue than I thought it would be by this time (which isn't really that much time but I am afraid that if I stay home any longer, I will not want to go back.)

Early on Saturday, we took a walk just around the block because I wanted to collect some Prickly Pear Cactus. In Austin, these cactus grow in any lot that is not plowed. My neighbor has a variety that withstands the cold of PA winters. These probably will not... but it is fun to experiment. So I went in a local field and dug up a few... tiny things so that I would not be disturbing wildlife.

While I was there, I tried to get a couple shots of some wildflowers...unknown names.

And then the final greatness, a stop at Hey Cupcake! Here is the website: http://www.heycupcake.com/story.html I think it is relatively a "new" Austin thing quickly on its way to becoming an institution. This guy has a couple of Airstream trailersfrom which he sells cupcakes for $2.50 each. Cupcakes come in 6 different flavors available under the menu section of the website. I sampled the Michael Jackson, a chocolate cupcake bottom with cream cheese frosting. Fab-u-lous! You could also make the cupcake into a Whipper Snapper by having a dollop of whipped cream injected into the cupcake. Yum.

So there you have it, some different perspectives from my favorite place to visit family.

Happy Gardening!

So, all in all, a really nice day.

checking out the competition

2009-11-23T19:08:00.004-05:00

Went to Stauffer's of Kissel Hill to get some systemic to kill the scale on my Philodendron Seloum (err... I hope I can save it!). While at SKH, walked around and looked at their Christmas greenery and poinsettias. It is amazing how early stuff is out but it sure looks pretty and fresh.

But, blue and/or purple poinsettias... not digging that! I didn't take pictures, but this images from Google are just like the ones in the store:

My houseplants are doing better

2009-11-19T10:31:00.002-05:00

It's pretty pathetic that this horticulturist has hardly any healthy houseplants until recently. I used to have quite a few. Then, enter Tex...the anxious greyhound. He destroyed most of my plants in a anxious moment when he first came to live with me. He wanted to look outside and dang it, there was a breakfast table in the way full of houseplants. So, he knocked over the table and he was happy. I was not.

Then, he discovered that my umbrella palm was just his height. So, he chomped on it. Grazed on the palm would be a better word. Ummm...one problem. Umbrella palms are toxic. Lucky for him (and me) that they just caused a kind of paralysis/seizure. And luckier still, I figured out what was going on and removed the plant to the Greenhouse where it recuperated and was sold to a customer without pets.

Now, that I am back home, I have been puttering with my plants. The interior of my house does not receive the best of light except for the back. So, the cacti live upstairs in the home office as my philodendron seloum. I have been growing pothos (who doesn't) and they can be found everywhere. I have one gardenia plant that I have carefully put downstairs by the glass doors. I am wondering if it should go upstairs into the office where there is an abundance of light.

So, there are benefits to being home to my plants.

11.17.09

2009-11-18T18:54:00.002-05:00

Enjoying the sunsets... even if they are around 5ish??

2 more weeks and I go back to work. Ever so slowly, but I return.

Regaining one's stamina

2009-11-13T15:28:00.004-05:00

Recuperation from surgery is boring but I have been humbled.

Quickly humbled when I tried to walk the dog around 2 short blocks. I had done around the block before but I wanted him to get out for a bit more than 15 minutes. The walk took me almost 40 minutes because after the first block, I wanted someone to come pick me up! The dog was looking at me quizically when we were at the last bit as I was taking teeny steps and had shortened his leash quite considerably so there would be NO CANINE sniffing, peeing, or whatnot!

So, I must work on regaining that as there is always stuff for a Horticulturist to do outside when I return to work. The biggest incentive right now is to recuperate so that I can walk the Medical Center grounds. Can you believe that Christmas is not far off? I have been thinking of trimming evergreens but I have to be able to walk around and stand in front of big trees. Big boughs of silver pine, fruited Holly tree limbs, branches of cedar and fir await my pruning hooks.

Can't wait...

Reading Books

2009-11-10T11:24:00.003-05:00

With staying home now, I have been reading ALOT. I really enjoyed "The Concubine's Daughter" by Pai Kit Fai. It is historical fiction and has sections that describe the beautiful gardens....

lovely!

Horticulture Rocks!

2009-11-08T10:19:00.010-05:00

This year my boss stated that my horticulture crew and I could make a float for the Veteran's Day Parade . The parade is held the first Friday in November and goes through the campus of the VA medical facility and is well attended by all patients and members of the community. It is before Veteran's Day because that is a day that all VA employees get off. In the last few years, public relations has been trying to get more staff involved with floats in the parade with friendly competitions such as pizza parties or plaques. Originally, I planned to be on station to assist with designing, manuafacturing, and operation of the float. However, due to medical issues, I helped present an idea, get the idea started and purchase the supplies, and oversee the initial stages.

I am most proud. The theme of the float was to be patriotic. One of the guys came up with "Planting the Seeds of Liberty, and cultivating the fruit of PATRIOTISM. Horticulture ROCKS!!" We made cornicopia with a bamboo frame, and covered it with burlap sprayed brown. We also made large fruit-vegetable objects that were put in the cornucopia.

Can't show closer up pictures due to privacy... but HORTICULTURE ROCKS!

Music in the background

2009-11-01T20:09:00.000-05:00

I found that I could put music on my page. Is it too much?

Bamboo garden fence

2009-10-30T22:11:00.007-04:00

Hello all! I have not forgotten about blogging, but it seems life has consumed all of my spare moments. Work has increased its frenzy because I am having surgery in a few days and I have gone into hyperdrive trying to order everything. My hope is that if I order everything that I can think of and leave many lesson plans, my assistant can follow instructions that I have left and compliment those instructions with what she has already done previously to keep everything going while I am away. I am blogging today about an activity that was completed lately... it was the bamboo fence around my wildflower garden.

This activity started because my wildflower garden got mowed over in the corners by a few of the Grounds Maintainance workers a couple of times because they thought it was "weeds"!

HURUMPF...but, in their defense, my wildflowers look pretty raggedy by the beginning of September. So, I wanted a fence around the garden to define my wildflower gardens to other people besides myself. Of course, the project took on a life of its own as soon as I suggested the idea to the crew.

First, we went 4 wheeling on the front hill of the Medical Center to get to the bamboo grove which a wonderful excuse to lock the hubs on the FORD 250. There were 3 excursions...maybe even 4 excursions to the Grove. We used small pruning saws and would cut the canes on an angle as low to the ground as I could get. The canes were brought back to the greenhouse with all the leaves on them.

Once the canes were back at the greenhouse, all of the small branches were cut off and saved in a large bin to weave in throught the fence poles to leave smooth canes to work with for fencing ples. Then the canes were cut into posts about 24-36 inches long.

As you can see from the following pictures, one of my crew dug "post holes" with a bulb planter, then we put the canes cut to the same length in the post hole, and backfilled the hole with dirt.

I wove a thinner piece of bamboo at the top and another at the bottom using opposite weaves to maximum strength with opposing frictional pull. The middle was woven with the tops of the canes. This picture is looking down on the fence. A big shaggy fence. Here are some pictures of the end result after a month...not bad!

Now lets see how this does after the snow!

Happy Gardening!!

Red Salvia

2009-10-05T20:19:00.006-04:00

We collected seeds from the Blaze of Fire red salvia... here it is against golden cedar!

On the left hand side, there is a picture of the trays of blooms that we have in the small greenhouse to dry. The brown blooms have seeds. I poured some in my hand that I have picture on the right side.

Happy

Gardening!!

Flying Solo this week... Fall Arrangements.

2009-09-25T16:07:00.007-04:00

Working on my own this week with a diminished crew. Usually, in Horticulture Therapy there is myself, a therapy assistant, and 6 veterans. This week there is only four becauseone of my guys transitioned on the 14th (as planned) and the other did not obtain the type of housing that he wanted and he returned to Philadelphia. I am lucky that everyone works diligently and well together. Makes life very uncomfortable when the cogs don't go together nicely.

This week, I have come in from outside on Tuesdays and Thursdays and have been working in the Flower Shoppe. I have one veteran that has grasped the concept of how to make the grapevine wreaths.

It is simple yet it requires an eye for blending colors.

We use one 18 in grapevine wreath, artificial leaves, artificial mini gourds and pumpkins, eucalyptus, natural moss, and scarecrows. They get hot-glued onto the grapevine wreaths in layers... Hope you enjoy!

Fall Colors at Home

2009-09-19T18:52:00.004-04:00

My garden at home is no bigger than a townhouse wide. I am thankful because by the time I get home from gardening and wrangling with my crew, I am truly exhausted. Add to that, a 14 year old who tends to get rather "saucy" (her words).

So the variety of flowers that I can grow are minimized by design. But my impatiens are phosphorescent with the copper hummingbird and looking happy!

The weather today was absolutely divine. I woke up around 7am and trimmed down the bee balm, sea holly, and zinnias. But the moon beam coreopsis, the prairie coreopsis, and my electric orange New Guinea Impatiens are still glowing in fall beauty.

Enjoy!

Completed... and in the rain no less...

2009-09-09T15:46:00.004-04:00

Here is the bed with mulch. Will fill in the holes next spring with annuals... or heat tolerant perennials. Thank you for your comments. The guys and I are quite proud. We finished mulching in the drizzling rain today.

Close up:

And looking from one end to the other...

Happy Gardening!

New Garden almost done

2009-09-03T15:13:00.006-04:00

With the weather being fabulous for gardeners, I decided to return to working on the earlier project... Building 2. As you may remember, the beds looked like this and then worse with weeds growing about 3 feet tall. It was quite the endeavor... if I say so myself!! First, we had to empty to compost bins to amend the hideous fill dirt that was used by the contractors at the job site. I wanted to borrow a backhoe to scoop out the compost, but I was not successful with coordinating with another department for staff and equipment. So, since I have 4-6 veterans working with me and I don't have to coordinate with anyone what jobs that we do ... we did it the old fashioned way. Jump into the pit (no manure), scoop out the compost, and shovel it onto the bed of a pickup. Of course, the process had to be reversed once we arrived at the job site. At the job site matters were complicated by the heigth of the high walls of the garden inside of the ramps. The compost was either dumped off of a cushman onto a tarp and then put in wheelbarrows or shovelled off of the truck. Once in the wheelbarrows, the compost was pushed up a ramp next to the wall. Then 2 guys lifted this heavy full wheelbarrow and dumped it inside the well. This took a couple of days as it is very intense work for anyone, let alone my crew of recovering addicts.

After all the compost was moved into the beds at Building 2, I borrowed an old rototiller (but it worked!!) to turn over the top layer of ground and compost!! You can see in the lower left hand of the picture that there are 3 railroad ties that are leaning up against the concrete wall. We had to push this ancient cast iron rototiller up into the bed and of course, what goes in must come out. I tried to make a yellow line on the picture delineating where the dirt was located. Today, we paced off the dimensions. I think each bed is roughly 40 feet long and 10 feet wide.

In each bed, we put 7 arborvitaes, 4 miscanthus (zebra grass) , 1 butterfly bush, and 16 Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red' (Beardstongue). Tomorrow, we mulch. I think I will take another picture! Proud of these guys... on a mission and it was completed!

Happy Gardening.

Getting re-started

2009-08-29T19:24:00.003-04:00

We have been busy in Horticulture Therapy and can hardly believe that August 2009 is almost gone. I realized that I have shortened my time at work this month by taking Fridays off at the request of my teenage daughter. She has been home during the month of August and really wanted to have someone to spend time with during the week. That was a perfect excuse for a shorter work week!! Additionally, the last 3 Monday mornings, I have also been off to go to the podiatrist. My mind loves Horticulture and landscaping. My body does not share this love.

So, the landscaping in HT has been boiled down to the remaining few shaded places around the Medical Center, trimming bushes around the Hospital and the greenhouse, trying to figure out how to complete the project at Building 2, and maintaining 75 flowering whiskey barrels and about 30 flowerbeds. Additionally, we have been selling Potted Mums in the New Leaf Flower Shoppe to customers for their outside beautification. I think this is earlier than we got them last year... it is nice to see the fall colors when everything else is starting to fade. Soon the cycle reverses itself, and we will put all the flowerbeds to sleep, and return to working in the Flower Shoppe 3 days a week and the greenhouse 2 days a week.

A couple of last minute projects have popped up. The 3rd Welcome Home Celebration was held today at our facility for the local returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. This meant that the flowerbeds at the building around the celebration needed to be weeded, trimmed and mulched. In the August heat, this was quite a feat (if I say so myself). The gardens around the Greenhouse even got spruced up...as we always are a bitty shaggy because everywhere else gets priority treatment before us.

Finally, we have obtained our new utility vehicle to replace the AGED CUSHMAN. I will get some pictures later but it is a truly spiffy orange Kubota RTV500.

Happy Gardening

Its starting to sound civilized...

2009-08-12T21:43:00.003-04:00

I finally can make a semi-civilized sound come out of my cello... and I am developing my first callus on my finger from pressing down on the strings! Yea!

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Handy web design tips, mini-tutorials and tricks for web site design and maintenance.

Bachelor Buttons and Coneflowers

2009-08-10T03:31:00.006-04:00

These two flowers grow in my Wildflower Garden that I have by the pole barn near the greenhouse. Full sun and not much water are the daily elements of this garden. Occasionally, I attempt to thin out some of the flowers but by this time of year, my efforts are stunted by heat and ... bees. This is one garden that I keep to myself because most of my patients just don't understand the principle of "thinning" versus "destroying". Agh, ain't life grand?

I just love how even the faded blooms look of Bachelor Buttons. Bachelor Buttons are also known as cornflower with that wonderful shade of blue. One website says that their name comes from that the flowers made good boutonnieres. Yes, that probably would be true as a single bloom would easily fit in a button hole on a suit. I take the stems of the spent blooms and throw them back into the garden... these plants are so beautiful .... I want them to keep multiplying!!

The effervescent pink coneflower graces my wildflower garden also this year. It is starting to get overwhelmed by the summer's heat. The bees have been extremely busy with pollinating the flowers and we have enjoyed it from afar. It will be time to split the plant and plant elsewhere on campus.

Happy Gardening!

Barrels on the campus... followup

2009-08-09T20:28:00.003-04:00

Earlier this summer, we had to replant these barrels two times. It was worth the effort. Now we have full sun zinnias, marigolds, and a few Purple Heart (Setcreasea) growing profusely in half whiskey barrels. Every couple of days, we pull the 325 gallon Water Dog with the Green Machine and patients help water the barrels. I think the guys get a better understanding for the different phases of horticulture...

New Pump on Lil Waterfall

2009-08-06T20:17:00.005-04:00

Here is the how the waterfall looked for last few years....you really couldn't see the fountain because it was was old and crusty. Plus, this spring, one of the legs on the pump broke off so the pump was sideways and acted really as a bubbler.

Then here the pond is with the new Little Giant 300 gallon pump by Pondworks. It is so cute with its little fountain head.

One of my patients helped me put it together.

Happy Gardening.

Unknown wildflowers...

2009-08-02T16:00:00.004-04:00

Can you help me identify this wildflowers? I took pictures of them yesterday on my walk with the dog in the park. They were growing on the banks of the stream.

these are the same plants... it seems to be past the prime of its bloom.

these are all the same flower. It is just starting to flower... it is darker than the color of chicory...

and this one grows at my job...in full sun, so water isn't the issue here!

Happy Gardening.

Mirabilis AKA Four o'clocks

2009-08-01T07:09:00.004-04:00

In all honesty, I didn't know the genus name of this flower but I looked it up on Dave's Garden for you techno gardeners. I like the common name. This plant also was brought back from Texas in seed form last year. 4 o'clocks don't always bloom at four o'clock but bloom when the temperature of the day drops... sounds reasonable to me!

Some people don't like this plant. It tends to be invasive I have been told...which is a good thing because when I asked my crew to weed...they pulled out most of the volunteers. Sigh. I read that the seeds are poisonous and parts of the plant are poisonous (as it is in the Nyctaginaceae family...nicotine... ugh).

However, the upside is great! The flowers are incredible and I have been told that the perfume is intoxicating. In this variety, the color is intense fuchsia... yeah! The plant is deer resistant. It self seeds which in the vast depths of one of the ovals of the Medical Center (that are shaded by enormous mature tulip poplar trees) I see that is a good thing... my apologies to Martha Stewart.

Happy Gardening

Micah 6:8

2009-07-26T16:47:00.008-04:00

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah+6:8

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Sometimes, I find this quite a challenge to live this passage though some may say that being in the helping profession is all about mercy.

Balancing showing mercy to others while not becming co dependant (again) is difficult. Balancing being humble and not getting walked on by others is equally a daunting task for the above reasons. And simply walking with God, instead of doing everything that comes into my mind and heart... you get the idea.

oh, this walk of mine... I am getting dusty (and thank you Dusty Chris)... and the path is so convoluted and confusing. But, I keep putting one foot in front of the other, and so the journey of a 1,000 miles continues!

Algae on the Lil Waterfall...

2009-07-23T18:20:00.004-04:00

Since I have been relieved of the big huge monster waterfall, I call the waterfall at the front the Hospital, the Lil Waterfall.

Here is what it looked like a few years back:

I probably took the picture about the same time of year...because it is that same shade of aquamarine (algae) right now. There is a pump in the middle of the pond. Previous post shows the spillway to the pond with the black taro.

Any guesses how many gallons this is?

Happy Gardening.

~k

Black Taro

2009-07-22T19:59:00.008-04:00

This week the New Leaf Flower Shoppe is closed so that the Horticulture crew can get some work done around the 150 acre facility where I work. So many projects need help.

I figured that I would start with the Formal Garden area since the most visitors come to that area. We started on Monday, with a minimal crew, we started weeding out the waterfall area. After weeding, I started moving plants around. Then I had to teach one of the guys how to restack the slate river rocks around the liner of the waterfall and adjacent to the spillway. Finally, we planted some annuals and perennials.

With the very wet spring and then suddenly hot weather, the weeds and liriope have gone crazy. I have consciously used liriope in the flower beds to anchor the dirt in certain areas. Liriope has to be split every so often or it grows into ginormous clumps. We had ginormous clumps of variegated Liriope to split. It was replanted in small batches in a patchwork design at the top of the bed under a very old holly tree where nothing else grows. We also had variegated vinca to cut back as it was growing over the top of bushes and grasses. Finally, we had a mound of ornamental grass that had died in the middle so it had to be dug out, cut down and replaced.

So far this week, the topics have been mostly focused on listening. Listening to instructions, or asking appropriate questions to find out how to do something versus just guessing how to do something. It was a small issue, but I asked that the white geraniums be off loaded from the truck to a certain place all together so that they could be planted with the red geraniums. I always lay out the plants where I want them planted to speed up the process and keep some semblance of order. Where did I find the geranium trays... all around the flagpole in 6 different places... since the red geraniums are in the bed by the flagpole. That doesn't sound too bad but I kept find geraniums and that was really annoying and since this happens all the time, it wears you out. We talked about following instructions and how important that is on a real job.

After all that was completed, I stopped to take this picture of the Black Taro that I had carefully brought with me from Texas. I was seriously thinking I had killed it because when I brought it to work I accidentally left it outside for a few hours. It acted like it was dead. However, it has returned to life and then some. It is shaded by the pine tree and gets water down the spillway and is very happy.

Hydrangeas

2009-07-19T07:09:00.003-04:00

Love the different types of hydrangeas... and love how they are barometers of soil pH. A new favorite because it growing so well now in the shade, is the Oak Leaf Hydrangea. Photo from Google:

Humidity has returned.

2009-07-16T19:08:00.003-04:00

The humidity has returned, and alas, I am never prepared. We in Pennsylvania have really been spoiled this summer because the humidity has only just arrived. I am truly thankful.

Sigh.

I tried to work the patients out in the Formal Garden at the front of the facility. But, within 60 minutes we were all feeling sluggish. With breaks, the crew and I were able to make it until lunch at 11:15am. Returned at 12:15pm and again was dragging my feet in my steel toed boots by 1pm. So, we packed up the truck and went under the shade. Still not finish weeding and mulching the beds at the entire facility ... I have saved the shady locations for this time of year when I can not work in the full sun but for an hour or two.

Since the Boss of the vocational programs at the facility suggested that we stay open over the summer, we have kept the shoppe open 2 days a week instead of 3 days a week. It has been difficult as we have not had a steady crew of patients. However, I am closing the shoppe next week to catch up with activities that are falling by the wayside.

Happy Gardening,

~k

A gardener... who wants to play cello?

2009-07-11T16:01:00.005-04:00

I have acquired a cello... rent to own. Lessons start this upcoming week.

Many people at work were surprised when I told them that I was acquiring a cello. Yes, I am going to be an adult student. Wonder why that seems so odd?

Could their surprise be from the fact that I wear steel toed boots, dig in the dirt for a living, and I am a filthy mess by 10am? Or maybe its because after spending so many years working with street addicts, my language (when upset) is equal to a salty sailor? I say...careful! Don't judge a book by its cover, at least not this one!

A friend of mine said... "I know why you want to play cello. So your daughter can say....

"YO YO MA!!

Happy Gardening...

"Times are pretty hard..."

2009-07-09T20:08:00.004-04:00

"Times are pretty hard..." I said to one of my veterans who is leaving to return to San Diego California in a couple of weeks. He said:

"Then we will have to hit it hard until it softens up!"

Wow, I thought that was pretty good. Very spontaneous.

Don't give up. Keep trying and eventually you will get there.

Tiger Lilies

2009-07-07T22:03:00.004-04:00

I love tiger lilies also known as ditch lilies ... of course, I also love wildflowers. They are just so cheery ... coming up every year when it is finally starting to get hot. Tiger lilies are pretty hardy, mostly insect resistant, and the only requirement is an occasional splitting. It has been the bright spot lately amongst all the weeds. I been remiss in the picture department because I have once again been consumed by the need to conquer the gardening of 30+ gardens.

We started that new bed in front of Building 2 but ran into a major snafu with amending the soil with compost. The walls of the ramp are so high that lifting compost into the beds is a foreboding task. So, we are going to wait until the building has been released so that we can bring a backhoe in to the area and drop lots and lots of compost (which will tear up the grass, but that can be fixed with grass seed).

In the meantime, we continue with weeding, trimming, mulching and planting around various buildings and in various places. We are over half way through the first cycle of go-arounds. It is slower this year because we have been keeping the Flower Shoppe open to provide another rehabilitation space. As soon as finish the first go around, it will be time to go around again.

The veterans this year need more supervision as there is less stability in the applicant pool. Because guys want to start working so badly, often there is a great deal of minimization of the medical problems. Had a guy start last week (4 day week) and he came back on this Monday and just said that his arthritis couldn't handle the work. Another veteran came to work on Monday on an antibiotic which made him photosensitive... oh boy, that would have been a real problem.

Tomorrow, my coworker will bring out the Water Dog out to water and fertilize plant barrels and flowerbeds. I will continue with the outside crew in our efforts at beautification. So, these pictures are not originals but the ones on the grounds are just like them. I appropriated them from: http://www.pbase.com/psteeper/image/83051852

Ageratum (blue mink)

2009-07-02T20:36:00.003-04:00

I don't know why this plant is scoffed. Perhaps, because it self seeds? Perhaps because it is hardy? It works well for us in horticulture therapy.

1. Seeds are cheap.

2. It requires concentration to count out 5 seeds to put in a progation cell because it is a tiny as a poppy seed.

3. Intense concentration slows down the maniacle pace of some of my veterans.

4. Ageratum germinates quickly. Fruit of one's labor provides almost instant gratification.

5. Can withstand wide extremes of watering... will allow itself to be watering directly and be water logged. Ageratum will come back to life after drought conditions in the greenhouse.

6. After 1,000's of plants have germinated, and matured, they need to be planted. With 150 acres of property, there is always places to plant ageratum which gives us lots of work to do!

yup, I think ageratum is great! This picture is from last summer, and we are planting it again this year.

Window Lovelies...

2009-07-01T20:48:00.004-04:00

Here are my cuttings that I so carefully brought back from Texas that I am trying to root in my favorite cobalt blue glasses in my kitchen window.

Plus, a gratus shot of zinnias (Cut and Come Again) along with a few store bought colored daisies. We grew the zinnias in the greenhouse this spring. A few plants survived the thrips this year... and I bought them. They do so well in a little porch garden that I have! And a few even managed to live that were planted in the whiskey barrels on campus, what a surprise that has been.

I have bought cards to catch the thrips this year so I can start my spraying early.

Planting Geraniums ... keeping on the growing cycle

2009-06-30T21:27:00.003-04:00

Horticulture Therapy at my hospital is production-oriented. I say that to explain to any newcomers why I have all these projects going on at anyone time. We have many phases of growing going on at one time. And that's good because where I work, the veteran patients are all at different phases in their rehabilitation and ultimately, their life. Some go too slow and some are too fast and we try to settle things out before they hit the community pavement.

There is the greenhouse. It starts kicking up its heels shortly after Christmas... until about now when I frantically try to empty the greenhouse before the seriously hot days of summer come around. The hot days just fry the plants that are pot bound in their little market cells needing more growing space and nutrients. There is the landscaping outside around 35 plus or minus buildings on 150 acres of land. And then, there is the New Leaf Flower Shoppe...where we try to sell some of the plants that we grow in addition to houseplants that I buy wholesale to round things out.

So, today we planted out by the flagpole all the red geraniums that we have been growing since March? We sold some geraniums in our other horticulture venue... The New Leaf Flower Shoppe. However, geraniums need full sun and the Shoppe doesn't get that so they were moved down to the greenhouse for "spa" treatment. (My co-worker refers to the greenhouse as the plant-spa...) I had the guys bunch the geraniums in four plants and it used up 7 or 8 trays of individual 4.5 in pots in NO time. We also planted Crackerjack Marigolds but that is almost a futile exercise since the rabbits and the ground hogs eat them for a late evening snack. But maybe one or two will survive and bring color to the area.

We weeded and I trimmed the roses.

The therapy part of today was getting the guys to stay focused on their recovery. As I am watering in the geraniums, I was discussing the different requirements of the Outpatient Substance Abuse program. Then we starting talking about long range housing goals when we started weeding. For one of the guys who is living in a per Diem program (a non VA run program located on VA grounds) he can stay for there up to 2 years but that isn't permanent. Since he was previously incarcerated, employment is going to challenging but he can't stay in rehabilitation program more than 4 months.

It is hard work, but it is doing something to help people be self sufficient. That's the best I can do...

~k

This is a big wildflower...

2009-06-28T08:06:00.000-04:00

I will paint you....

2009-06-27T22:41:00.003-04:00

Aim for the Moon...

2009-06-27T08:46:00.008-04:00

It has been too hot to work on the new landscaping site. So I used the opportunity to finish a pruning project that I started last year and of course, it turned into a huge project.

We have these Sweet Box bushes ( I think that is what they are...) that have grown so tall I can not reach the top of them. The problem with their height and girth is that all sorts of trash and small mammals find their homes underneath their mighty boughs. Nope...this won't do. So the Sweet Box bushes became small trees... craftily pruned to enhance their wonderful undercarriage and morph them into a thing of beauty.

However, once the Sweet box were pruned, the azaleas that used to be small and cute a decade ago, now looked dead and unsightly and in certain areas, invasive. So, the azaleas were pruned down. In some places the crowded azaleas had to be cut down completely so that it "appeared" that they were sporadically planted along a wandering path. One of my crew suggested a bench for people to sit on. If this was on my own property, I would definitely say yes. However patients at the VA smoke and throw cigarette butts and I don't want my mini azalea forest decimated by cigarette butts.

Landscaping is half luck and mostly hard work, determination, and planning.

The day ended early for second time this week as we were having a transition. I like to celebrate with the vets their transition out of the program. So, I make a sheet cake. Since I make the cake, I usually make a chocolate cake and frost it with chocolate icing. Wednesday, we had a transition for someone that finished while I was on vacation. Friday, we had a transition for one of my OEF/OIF veterans. I present them with a certificate for completion in the Horticulture program that is signed in the front by myself and my assistant. On the back, we write words of encouragement.

Yesterday I wrote on the certificate:

"Aim for the Moon for if you miss, you will still be among stars!" I think this is good advice for myself also.

New project

2009-06-24T19:50:00.010-04:00

Finally a new landscaping project has opened up... timing is a bit off... full sun project... the heat has turned on for the summer. But, you can't control all the variables all the time.

so-

I am going to try to take pictures of steps along the way. I end up using my camera phone since it is on my hip most of the day. A regular camera gets really messed up on a landscaping crew. Plus, my job is not photography...

I was notified yesterday that the two beds in the enormous ramp outside of building 2 were cleared to become flowerbeds as the contractors had finished the installation of the ramp and that area had been "cleared". In the VA government, every project that is contracted out is supposed to be cleared by the contracting office before it is returning for upkeep by VA staff.

The ramp takes up an enormous space in front of Bldg 2 to accommodate the gradual slope necessary for a wheelchair ramp that matches a flight of stairs. As you can see that the buildings are brick so the ramp is brick to blend into the environment. These two areas that are stuck in the middle of the ramp are becoming flower beds because the walls around them are too high to lift a lawnmower to mow the grass. Yes, a weed wacker would fit in there, but flowerbeds look better. In the pictures, you can see the one on the right that the weeds that have grown in the soil that the contractor put in the area have grown rather tall. I hadn't notice them a couple of weeks ago when we were doing the Chapel and the buildings next door. Rain has a habit of making weeds grow super sized in June.

So, we weeded.

Weeding is a means to conduct vocational therapy. Today we were working on issues of following instructions and doing a quality job are two vocational work issues. The following is one of the scenarios that played out today:

Me: "No, you may NOT use a cultivating hoe on this bed. I saw you yesterday in another flowerbed and you were scraping the weeds out and leaving the roots. Put on knee pads and get a trowel and lets pull these weeds out by the root."

Patient response: "But it's going to take too long."

Me: "What other burning issues do you have to solve or do today?"

Patient: "None."

Me: "Great. So, let's do a quality job, so we won't be back next week in the heat with 2 ft weeds."

After we weeded the two areas (the square footage is quite huge...will measure tomorrow), we went and pulled compost from one of our bins. It is truly black gold...full of rich worm castings and worms!! It was pretty labor intensive because the compost bins are so close together a backhoe can't get in there to scoop out the compost. So it got manually put into the hydraulic dumper on our Cushman (our mini work truck...3 cylinder) and manually removed from the Cushman because a backhoe can't get in close enough to dump.

Tomorrow, I hope to put compost on the bed to the right. We got both sides weeded on Wednesday and compost put on the left hand bed. We stopped early for a celebration. One of the veterans from Horticulture had completed 4 months and he was returning for his certificate and chocolate cake.

~k

Daylilies

2009-06-24T06:40:00.004-04:00

I took pictures Monday, but I must have messed up the picture settings because they came out cloudy. Took this on Tuesday evening.

Changing Gears... Changing Climates

2009-06-21T13:51:00.003-04:00

It is amazing to see the Creator's handiwork in various climates. Yesterday, I was in the humidity and hotness of East Texas. Today, I am in the breezy sunshine of Lancaster County, PA. I was so happy to see that my yellow foxglove is blooming as is my Monte Negro Day lilies. I will try to get some pictures.

Tomorrow, it is back to the daily grind and I wonder what is in store for me. I did not call and check up on anyone as I figured what was THAT going to do? I wonder whether or not my struggle with the bureaucratic wheels of purchasing where resolved or am I returning to a Hornet's Nest?

I have many thoughts and ambitions of projects to do with the veterans this summer that have come forth due to this vacation. Don't know if all that will happen. One of the things that I will try to do is to rebuild the pond that is in front of the Medical Center with some plants... some Taro that I brought with me from Texas... The pond that is by the hospice is hopefully cleaned and no longer under my wing. While I was on vacation, I found a starter book on how to rebuild the pond.

I read this blog today that has me revisiting my shaky foundation in faith. I made a promise to my daughter to stay in PA until she graduates from high school. Promises have to be kept, or else, what good are they? I have asked the Lord to guide me with the issue of relocating to Texas as it is so overwhelming to me filled with confusion. I will definitely miss the cool breezes and the smell of the big deciduous trees, but family is so important. Daughter says she is thinking of going to a college in Arizona so she can live with her Dad after high school. She will be old enough to make her own decisions at that time...

~k

Growing Texas Style

2009-06-19T09:58:00.007-04:00

Acanthus Mollis, or Bear's Britches

I saw a picture of one of these plants on someone's website from Chicago... not quite as tall as the one growing here in Mt. Vernon. The first picture is by my Dad about a month ago when the plant first started to bloom.

The following pictures were taken this morning. It really has grown quite a bit taller in just a month's time As you can see, the plant is almost finished blooming.

Without sounding trite, I guess they do grow stuff BIG here in Texas.

Dwarf Pomegranate

2009-06-18T10:59:00.005-04:00

It is really neat to see plants growing freely outside in Texas that live as houseplants in PA. In the middle of the garden is a Dwarf Pomegranate which has trumpet shaped flowers... it even has dwarf fruit. Some people use this as a bonsai tree but here it is growing happily as a small tree.

Lovely Wild Larkspur

2009-06-17T22:25:00.009-04:00

While travelling to Tyler from Mt Vernon, we drove down many a country road. Again, native wildflowers are unique to regional areas. We stopped at the crossing of Route 115 and route 11 to look at a patch of blue flowers that my father saw and he wanted to catch on film.

Simply fabulous.

To see these Larkspur growing in the wild was so unique! In PA, we grew them in the greenhouse and they are small, gangly and thin stemmed creatures. These flowers in the wild were standing up tall. I collected seeds. Don't know if I can be successful in that department, but I will try germinating them in the spring.

Texas ramblings

2009-06-16T10:16:00.005-04:00

Plant lovers on vacation gravitate towards the plants that are in the new location. Although my daughter and I have been to Texas several times before, it is always a nice visit once I accept the unlike-the-East issues. Those issues are heat, bugs, heat, bugs, and more heat and bugs. On the positive side, one of the things that I look forward to here is that the native plants are different than the one's "back East". It is wonderful that we can zoom around the world via the Internet and our friends are as close as a keystroke. But, sometimes, when you visit someplace different, you really want to see different things... because the Walmarts are all the same as are most of the stores at the Mall. Native plants are definitely unique and my mom has many of them growing around her house.

I am sitting outside (rare occurrence for the middle of June in these here parts) writing this blog. Texas is so big, that 2 hours away and you are in a significantly different growing zone but it doesn't seem like you have gone that far away. That is true in Pennsylvania because where I live is in the valley and the Poconos that are 2 hours away are the mountains but here in Texas, it seems different. My brother lives in Keller Texas which is very grassy and mostly flat. Plus, he lives in a suburb of houses that so much like all the other houses in the neighborhood. My folks live in Mt. Vernon in what is referred to the Piney Woods section of Texas. Their community is definitely wooded... my mother has done her part to maintain the woods feeling of her area.

One of my favorite native plants that she has on her property is the Turk's Cap. I have tried to grow it in PA... but it doesn't like it. I enjoy it when I visit here...

Turk's cap Malvaviscus drummondii (M. arboreus var. drummondii)is really a brilliant red and here in the woods, it just glows red in and amongst the foliage. According to the Texas native database, it sounds like it will grow almost anywhere but especially likes part shade.

Will check in again tomorrow,

~k

More on Lyme Disease

2009-06-10T19:14:00.003-04:00

I previously wrote a mini article about Lyme Disease. I wanted to add a few notes after the fact.

According to the CDC website http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/Lyme/ not all ticks are known to be infectious. Only those ticks infected with Borrelia burdorferi. "It is transmitted among these animals – and to humans – through the bites of certain species of ticks. In the northeastern and north-central United States, the black-legged tick (or deer tick, Ixodes scapularis) transmits Lyme disease. In the Pacific coastal United States, the disease is spread by the western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus)."

With that said, I did mention previously that you should check daily after gardening or other outdoor activities for ticks. According to the Health Educator from Chester County, an application of an insect repellent with 20-30 % DEET is helpful for adults. Wearing light colored clothing is helpful so that the ticks are easily visible and removed. Remove ticks with fine tipped tweezers.

According to the CDC, early detection is key in fighting Lyme Disease. Most cases if caught early are treatable with 2 weeks of antibiotics.

For more information contact the website listed above and there is a pdf file available.

Biting Consequences-Lyme Disease

2009-06-10T06:03:00.004-04:00

In our line of work, landscaping/gardening, don't forget one of the unfortunate consequences....

Tick Bites.

One of my patients showed me on Tuesday the location of where he had pulled an engorged tick off of his skin. It had the bullseye inflamed red ring around the site. So, off to the medical professionals I sent him because it might be Lyme Disease.

We had a very informative session last Wednesday with our local health department about Lyme Disease (named after Lyme Connecticut):

how it contracted, how it can be prevented, what are the symptoms.

Ticks like warm places... the black legged tick takes a ride on warm blooded animals such as deer and mice biting them. The tick is not born with Lyme Disease. It gets it from the warm blooded animals that it first bites. Then when it bites a human, it transfers that bacteria to the human. If the animal was not positive for the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease, then the human that the tick bites will not be positive for Lyme Disease.

So check all those warm spots... hair, behind the ears, armpits, private areas, feet, ankles. The lady from the Health Department said that most cases reported were from people who garden.

Ahh... it reminds me of the Bubonic Plague.

Gross.

~k

The humidity has RETURNED!!

2009-06-08T19:18:00.005-04:00

Got a taste of hot and sticky today... OMGawsh!

Took all the annuals and perennials out of the Flowershop today. Brought all the tomato plants to the flowershop from the greenhouse because we are going to sell them or mulch them by Friday. Next week, the flowershop is going to be closed because I am on Vacation to NE TEXAS.

Enjoy some pretty pictures of the coreopsis across from the greenhouse....

Happy Gardening!

~k

My last Sunday ...

2009-06-07T07:45:00.004-04:00

Just because I find myself working too much, I have decided that this is my last Sunday to go into work. I can't take the time off that I am earning because I get further behind which makes me resentful which carries over to everyone else at work. This summer, I have 3 areas of concern that make my workload pretty heavy at times.

First, there is the greenhouse work. We grew an inordinate amount of seedlings this year. Probably too many, but I just wanted to try them. Now, that we have so many left, they are languishing in their market packets. Unfortunately, many of the seedlings did not sell in the Flowershop because of two reasons: not enough natural light and the patients there have over watered them and they languished and died. I started in February coming in on Sundays to water, fertilize or spray but now I am tired. To help this transition to no-more-Sundays, I have had the crew repot most of the annuals and perennials into larger pots. Of course, there are still going to be a few tragedies because something won't make it through the weekend.

The second are of concern, is the flowershop. The flowershop is now only open 2 days a week... we will see how that goes through the summer. So far, it has been challenging to the person running it because that person has to make decisions and appropriate discipline regarding how to keep the veterans busy and focused during the day instead of me. I think that they are more than competent to do so. I still oversee the entire operation, order supplies, and come through and get things back on track... but so far that has been just once in awhile instead of everyday. Everyday I am outside or in the greenhouse working on those issues...

Finally, my 3rd challenge is providing support to my boss who is new to the system. We are starting to prepare for our 4Th accreditation by CARF to happen October 2010. It is a process that is important as that it keeps our program current, vital, and justifiable to the VA system at large. However, if you have no one to mentor you in the process, then it is overwhelming.

So, the first steps have been taken. Now, to implement the plan. Wish me luck!

Getting caught up

2009-06-05T19:04:00.005-04:00

The hurried up I go, the behinder I get. I think my grandmother used to say something like that and it has been so true for me and my patients this week. The rain is wonderful, everything looks so lush and green. But the weeds, omg, they are thigh high in some places.

So, I got the raingear out... and we worked outside in the morning. I figure, there was not thunder and the temps were in the 60's. Weeding was very satisfying. The patients were able to get the weeds out from around the bushes completely and with a little tug the root system also came out. We even weeded out the rock garden around one of the gazebo's... it looks really nice. I decided not to do any planting because as soon as you step on the ground there is an imprint. Knowing this crew, when I ask them to push the dirt around the new plant... they would leave a crater.

This afternoon, I needed to dry out, so we worked inside. I had one crew of 2 working in the greenhouse making planters in plastic urns. 3 Geraniums, 3 purple secretecea and one dracena spike or repotting topiaries with shade plants. Another one of my guys was assigned to just repotting coleus... I had saved a crop from extinction when they almost didn't weather out an unheated greenhouse.

At the flowershop, newly purchased tropicals were repotted into 10 inch decorative pots for sale. I started to get out our little 2 and 3 dollar plants and display them so that customers could see them instead of hiding them in the back. I started getting the repotting done and throwing away cuttings that were dead and moldy.

In general, it was rainy day catch up.

Discussions varied: Developing a budget with the amount of money that is presently earned, why the work assignments are 4 months and not indefinite, why it is important to put in applications for employment with more than one employer....

Thursday

2009-06-04T21:22:00.004-04:00

Most days, the crew in Horticulture Therapy is a collection of weeds and wildflowers. The negative behaviors are weeds and the unique and beautiful issues are wildflowers.

I had a patient say to me a couple of days ago something about a really negative behavior (food hoarding) in the latest new addtion to the crew. He "just wanted me to know in case anything came up missing." I told him that I don't pick the patients that are sent to me and we work with everyone who is able. I screen them to make sure that they can physically do the tasks of the assignment and then I just accept whoever so there are no issues of potential discrimination or selection. Most of the time, I get more psychologically impaired persons as the medical clearance precludes individuals with significant bending, pushing, lifting limitations.

It is hard sometimes for some of the vets to get along with some of the more psychologically impaired vets, but it works out better to let fate choose the crew. Sometimes, the crew is rather lopsided because we have all different levels of functioning floundering around in the crew at one time. The same patient who told me about the new recruit has struggled working with the various levels of functioning of various veterans. He hasn't really accepted that without medication, he has the potential to become dysfunctional as some of the other patients. He was fortunate to have been brought up in a home that taught him a strong work ethic that he has maintained.

Somedays... its the best...

2009-06-01T20:18:00.003-04:00

its' the best gig around when days are like today. There was a light breeze. The airplanes in the blue sky were "drawing" lines everywhere. Bright sunshine.

Ahhh!

As for Horticulture Therapy, one of my guys got the news that his SC pension was approved. For those how might not be familiar with VA stuff, that means that the VA has approved his request for compensation for sustaining an injury while he was in the service. A veteran has to submit mounds of paperwork. The new guys, OEF(Operation Enduring Freedom/ OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom)/ or GWOT (Global War on Terror), have special social workers to help them submit their claims. Now this vet will get funding to go to school because he is rated at more than 30% service connected. And, since he has been turned down for employment by potential employers due to his mental health status, he can survive with minimal employment in addition to his pension.

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We have been planting many annuals in the flower beds that we can water weekly. Not everywhere that we want to plant flowers is accessible for watering. The veterans and staff have been gracious with their compliments.

The only bad thing is that I locked myself out this evening and had to borrow a neighbor's ladder to cut open a screen on the second floor.

But overall, today was GGGGRRREEAT!

Deep Thinking while Watering

2009-05-31T17:03:00.006-04:00

For the last few months (at least since February), I have been going to work on Sundays to water the plants. I wish I could get someone to share this weekend task. I even thought about getting one of the patients to do this task for me but it would require getting the police to unlock the greenhouse and wait until the patient is finished watering the greenhouse. Since that is very unlikely, I just do it myself.

I was still processing what the Army Chaplain (one of our missionaries) at church had mentioned in his message this morning. Occassionally, the missionaries visit the church and tell us what they have been doing to spread the Good Word. Anyways, the Chaplain said that the amount of suicides in the active duty personnel is staggering. The men and women of the military are finding that life is not worth living. He said that the average person has been activated into a war zone at least twice, some 3 or 4 times!! Chaplain said that people can adopt a batallion to pray for them, to write to them, and sponsor them.

We see the veterans returning with severe depression... it is mind numbing. Young folks.

Pray for our men and women. Pray hard.

Good Eats

2009-05-30T20:43:00.005-04:00

On Friday, the Grounds Maintenance Foreman stopped by the Flower Shoppe and let me know that a local veteran was making a large donation of plants to the hospital. I was more than curious.

Turns out, that this guy had the fixings for a small nursery on his property behind his house. The property was easily an acre or so... longer than it was wide. The reason why he was donating the plants was that over 50% of them had died after he was in a car accident and could no longer take care of the plants.

It was amazing... perennials, perennials, perennials! The Grounds Maintenance Foreman was taking the small trees and large shrubbery... I went for smaller potted items like Montauk Daisy, Coneflowers, creeping charlie, day lilies, a couple of ground covers and others. It ended up being 3 pickup truck loads.

Meanwhile, I picked some of the asparagus that just started to go to seed and a few stalks that were missed. Also found an onion that had been trampled, but still good. The Pièce de résistance was the strawberry garden... we liberated a dozen or so. The guys definitely enjoyed the strawberries which were very ripe since no one was picking them. I brought the asparagus and onions back the greenhouse where I sauteed them in butter in the kitchen. YUM.

A good meal from the land. I told the guys that this is a good hobby... growing fruits and vegetables... and it helps the wallet too.

202

ADA issues

2009-05-28T21:13:00.006-04:00

This one floored me.

One of my patients told me today that he filled out an application for employment and received bad news. On the application it asked if he was on any prescription medications. He answered the question truthfully and said yes. It also asked if he had thoughts of suicide... and he was truthful again. That is what brought him into the hospital for treatment. And that is why he is on prescription medication.

Can you believe that they asked him those questions? And then they turned him down for employment. Talk about depressing...

I was outraged!

I looked up prohibited questions on an application. From the website of Law Guru http://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/user/faq.cgi?id=69

Question:
What is an employer prohibited from asking me either on an application or at an interview?

Answer:
Examples of questions that an employer cannot ask you on an application or at an interview include: whether you have had any diseases or conditions in the past 3 years; whether you have ever been hospitalized; whether you are taking prescription drugs; whether you have ever been treated for drug addiction or alcoholism; whether you have ever filed a worker's compensation insurance claim; or whether you have any physical defects, disabilities or impairments which may affect your performance in the position for which you are applying/interviewing. However, some of these questions may be asked once the employer has extended you a job offer.

Obviously, the veteran does not have money to sue the company. Any other suggestions?

Montauk Daisy and Plains Coreopsis

2009-05-27T21:30:00.007-04:00

Its the end of May... and with all this rain... the weeds are knee high in most of the flowerbeds on campus. I am running out of time before the temperatures climb in the unbearable range. I have a good crew of 3 guys that like to work outside with me and we have been working outside prepping the beds.

We worked on a bed that I planted Montauk Daisy in November of 2006. I don't have a picture but Wow, they are small bush sized! We weeded them out and straightened them out...moving a few of the bushes to fill in gaps where plants had died. We then planted about 15 containers of Plains Coreopsis... this is the picture of Plains Coreopsis that I took at Longwood gardens last summer. I can only hope that my coreopsis will begin to look similar. So far they are much smaller but, they have been struggling with less than ideal conditions. Maybe now that they have been planted with a little fertilizer they will start to be pretty!

We talked briefly how much work goes into making the beds look nice... the guys were wondering if anyone really noticed. I say, yes, they notice and even give out compliments.

onward,

~k

203

Waging war with squirrels

2009-05-26T20:36:00.004-04:00

2 of my crew and I spent several hours replanting the whiskey barrels because the squirrels had decapitated most or all of the plants. ERRR!

Of course, I try to teach the vets anger management...but squirrels, make me into a raging hypocrite.

So, the rain watered in the new plantings...hopefully, it will rejuvenate the lilacs that we planted last week. I know that it watered in the hundred or so ageratum that we planted on Thursday (and there are probably a couple thousand more to plant).

Happy Gardening,

205.5

Bamboo Chimes

2009-05-25T22:06:00.002-04:00

With a small but vigorous grove of bamboo growing on the grounds of the facility, I have been thinking about making something for resale from these canes. I am thinking wind chimes. Anyone done that before?

207

Poison Ivy...

2009-05-24T20:20:00.006-04:00

or poison oak or sumac.... aaaaahhh, it makes me start scratching! (The lament of all those gardeners who are allergic to it)

First, let me say that the following pictures are items that I use in my ongoing war against this WEED. I do not receive any financial gain from their use. I only hope to bring some small form of relief to my fellow gardeners.

Yes, I have reaction to it now because I forgot to use my remedy because I got distracted. The remedy is most effective when done as soon as possible after exposure. When I know that I have been exposed, I first wash with Burt's Bees Poison Ivy Soap.

According to the website http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=-111&categoryId=10010&subCategoryId=-147&catalogId=10051&storeId=10001&langId=-1

"This mild, cleansing soap contains Jewel weed to help relieve itching and irritation. You'll also reap the antiseptic benefits of Pine Tar and Tea Tree oil, so you can enjoy the outdoors comfortably. Wash the affected area with the soap, rinse, then wash again and leave the lather on your skin and let it dry for long-lasting relief. Treat the affected area 2 to 3 times daily."

I also use Tecnu Outdoor skin cleanser from Tec Labs http://www.teclabsinc.com/products.cfm?id=1F5604C8-9D05-4675-56129F6D83DF2417

and follow the instructions. Very important to treat the affected as soon as possible after exposure with COOL water.

DO NOT USE HOT WATER!! HOT WATER OPENS THE PORES AND THE URUSHIOL OIL PENETRATES THE SKIN LAYERS DEEPER...CAUSING A SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER REACTION!!

So, what are your remedies?

weeds vs wildflowers

2009-05-23T12:39:00.004-04:00

the guys in HT ask me ... is this a weed or is this a flower? i think this plant is referred to a weed because i didn't want and i didn't plant it...so it got weeded out of the flower bed.

But back to the general question at hand. I do believe that the answer depends on location, perception, and concentration. Kind of like people I imagine...

Yup, i think dandelions are pretty in the spring before they go to seed ... when they are located in a field away from my yard. The general perception of a dandelion will never be much more than they are weeds, but there are uses for dandelions. the amount of angst that a dandelion causes is in direct proportion to the concentration of dandelions around. One dandelion in the flower bed is not cause for consternation. Many dandelions...

they are obnoxious weeds not beautiful yellow wildflowers.

in the flower beds, i have had to pull out over exuberant coreopsis... it becomes like a weed and grows everywhere!

People can be like wildflowers and weeds. I think every weed just needs to find the right garden where it will be appreciated.