Pinus Nigra

Another big day at the Gardens. Thursday is the day the students from the Career Center come to help out and I am really lucky to have them helping. There was an Austrian Pine that was planted a little too close to the sidewalk and it needed to be moved. It took us all day but we did it! Before undertaking this endeavor I asked around to find out how it is done. “Do you have a tree spade?” was the question everyone asked. Uh, no. I don’t even have good shovels and hoes. The second thing I found out was very helpful. And that was to “root prune” the tree about a month before transplanting to facilitate fibrous root growth. So I did, well, Larry the volunteer who comes in on Wednesdays did. First he raked out the worst of the debris, then he took a spade and made a circle around the tree. When the kids dug out the pine tree today it had lots of fibrous root growth, whether it was there before or not I couldn’t tell but I was glad to see it. We planted it down by the amphitheater and amazingly enough the soil didn’t look too bad. We found a lot of rusted pieces of metal, plastic and an old shirt. I hope that little tree will be happier with a little more space and in the company of other evergreens. I’ll be watching its progress with interest and keep you posted.

P.S. The big bird of paradise that you see as you walk into the Rainforest Greenhouse is in bloom! As soon as I can get pictures on this blog I’ll post one of the bloom. It is all white and beautiful.