It’s that time of year again, when pumpkins are harvested and brought to county fairs and farm stands to be weighed at one of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth‘s regional weigh offs.
The Commonwealth’s five U.S. regions host a total of 54 weigh–offs. Anticipation of these weigh-offs has been building at The New York Botanical Garden as we will host the GPC’s Showcase of Champions beginning October 21. The Showcase of Champions, as part of the Haunted Pumpkin Garden, will feature the three largest pumpkins from the regional weigh-offs. The pumpkins will be on display October 21 – October 30 and will be carved October 22-23 by pumpkin-carving provocateur Ray Villafane, and October 29-30 by creator of the gourd-geous installations in the Haunted Pumpkin Garden, Michael Natiello.
I was in the Conservatory yesterday giving a tour of Fall Flowers of Japanand kiku, and we all agreed that these gorgeous, enormous chrysanthemums look like a sky full of little fluffy clouds. What do you think?
In their second year of the School of Professional Horticulture’s program, students go on six-month internships which allows them to expand their horticultural skills and to work on their professional development skills Brenden Armstrong wrapped up his internship at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., and will graduate in March 2012. SOPH students are required to write a monthly report from their internship. Brenden’s report from the month of August is below.
Brenden teaching a potting workshop at Bread for the City in June
August was another eventful month at the National Arboretum. I’m beginning to love it here, and have thought more about if I would like to end up in this neck of the woods. The work environment is great, the people are wonderful, and D.C. has a distinctive culture that I enjoy. I’m glad that I have been able to experience it with Luis (another SOPH student) because we have become close friends now and I think he’s fallen in love with this city.
I have taught my last class at Bread For The City and feel lucky to have had that opportunity. I learned a lot about how to teach horticulture in a practical and meaningful way. Teaching has also been useful in reinforcing what I have been taught while it has allowed me to include my own ideas as well. I enjoyed the experience and would like to continue teaching in the future. Who knows maybe someday I’ll get to teach SOPH students!
I have continued to learned new plants, among them are many wonderful native plants. I’m glad that I have been able to study in such a landscape that is as diverse as the National Arboretum is. There are tons of wild-collected plants from all over the world, but also many that were collected in the United States. I used to dislike over-hyped native plants, but after my time here, I have come to love them.
Brenden teaching a rooftop gardening class at Bread for the City
Hopefully all this exposure to plants will prepare me for our Plant Identification final. I can’t wait for it, it will be such a great way to wrap-up our knowledge about the plants we have learned. Once you can identify a plant, it gains so much meaning. It’s like learning the name of someone you have seen around frequently; suddenly you understand who they are. I’m glad that I have come to know so many plants.
I have one month left in my internship, and it will be gone before I realize it. This has been the most amazing summer of my life and I’ll be talking about it forever. SOPH has really hit the nail on the head with the required six month internship. It has not only prepared me professionally, but also given me perspective on what we have learned during the program. It’s been great and I look forward to completing the internship so I can see all my wonderful classmates once again in New York.
Weather generally has the upper hand when it comes to gardening. There are lots of things we can do to foster the care of our plants, but ultimately we end up at the mercy of Mother Nature. This year was no exception. The New York-area had a wet spring, baking hot July with no sign of rain, and then a record-breaking, near-constant deluge in August.
And now we’re seeing the effect of this weird weather around the Garden; many of our fall bloomers are one to two weeks behind schedule, most notably our late September rose display and our chrysanthemums. It has also been a lousy year for tomatoes.
In July, when the temperatures rose into the high 90s and we lacked any rain, our plants responded by shutting down. This is a protective response which helps them survive difficult times. If the plants had continued to push growth under these conditions they would have lost too much moisture and wasted a dangerous amount of energy. In this respect, plants are just like people; they get sluggish and slow down in the heat.
For answers to some of the questions that have been left in the comments see this follow-up post.
Ed. note: Earlier this week I went for a walk in the Conservatory courtyard and spotted a beautiful Mandevilla vine growing vigorously in a container. I tweeted a picture of it, and almost immediately we got a reply from Twitter-user Jacqueline Lewis asking what is the best method for over-wintering this beautiful vine. It seemed like a really good question, so I put it to Gardener for Public Education, Sonia Uyterhoeven. Her answer is below. ~ A.R.
Mandevilla (Mandevilla splendens) is native to Brazil. It has glossy leaves and striking trumpet shaped flowers. It is generally grown as a vine but can also be pruned to maintain a shrub-like upright shape. Mandevilla (Mandevilla x amabilis) is a hybrid that grows to be a large vine reaching 8 to 10 feet tall. They are generally grown on trellis.
Both the species and the cultivated variety love light and good drainage. Wait until it starts to dry out before you water. Fertilize your mandevilla every other week with a liquid fertilizer when it is actively growing. Unlike many tropical plants, mandevilla does not like to be pot bound so give it room to grow.
Mandevilla are not hardy in our area, USDA Zone 6, so you have two options if you would like to over-winter your vine. The first option is to bring it into your home. If you have enough space and a bright sunny window then move the container inside once the weather starts to cool down.
For a lot of people in the New York-area this weekend is a three-day weekend! To celebrate, the Garden will be open Monday, October 10, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. And you know what makes it even better? The weather forecast is looking gorgeous! Such a welcome change after so many grey, rainy, dreary weekends.
It’s that time of year again, when pumpkins are harvested and brought to county fairs and farm stands to be weighed at one of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth‘s regional weigh offs.
