Purchase
Area Master Gardener Association
(PAMGA)
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(PAMGA) |
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Field Trip
March 23, 2005, the class traveled by bus to the Demonstration & Trial Garden. It was a gray, chilly, blustery day, but full of excitement and activity - much of it centered around staying warm. First we gathered in the perennial house where Nova Nuckolls, Master
Gardener and Garden Co-Chair, demonstrated the proper method of pruning plants.
She also
After taking a soil sample, each team toured the hothouse where we saw dragon wing begonias that were started just two weeks after we propagated ours in the classroom. The ones in the greenhouse looked healthy. We've had only spotty success with the ones at school. The hothouse allows the Master Gardeners to control many of the same factors we are controlling in our classroom experiments - light, air movement, temperature, etc. We even saw some Spanish Moss which we learned a few weeks ago is not a parasite, but rather is an epiphyte related to the pineapple. We also saw an example of propagation by "layering." When we left the hothouse we visited with Annie Broyles, Master Gardener and beekeeper. Mrs. Broyles talked to the class last week about bees and this week we got to see the active beehives at the garden. She broke down one of the hives so we could see inside. We collected some of the dead bees for closer examination when we return to school.
The fruit of our labors. The hellebores we'll see again. The buddleia will take root and be ready for sale in 2006. |
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Purchase Area Master Gardener Association, 2705 Olivet Church Road, Paducah, Ky 42001 270/554-9520 FAX 270/554-8283 www.pamga.org |
showed
us just how much growth can occur on a plant in a single year using a buddleia
that was started at the garden in the Spring of 2004 from the same type of stem
cutting she was taking that morning. Using the stems she removed
from the buddleia we then propagated several plants in sand. Buddleia is
also known as "butterfly bush." 
Hellebores,
also known as the Lenten Rose, has been named the Perennial Plant of the Year
for 2005. Each student transplanted a small hellebore into a 4" pot using
potting soil. These plants were left at the garden to harden off but we'll
be seeing them later.
As the propagating session continued, each team was taken to a different spot
in the garden to collect a
soil sample. Using a soil probe, we went down
to a depth of 6"-8" and took a total of 10 cores from a particular bed in the
garden. (Even the bus driver took a sample with the "soil" team).
After the soil dries out it will be mixed thoroughly and a representative sample
will be sent to the UK Research Station in Princeton for analysis. When we
receive the test results we will know the soil's pH and whether it needs to be
amended with fertilizer.