Tuesday morning I went with Heather and we mowed the yards in the reindeer and bison exhibits. Then, I went with Kerrick and we weeded by the carousel. After that, we went and weeded under the trees by Schiller. Then, we checked the water bags around the trees down by the historic lily pond and looked to see how dry the Austrian pines down by the lily pond were because they are new trees. Next, we brought mulch piles to some of the pines by Schiller which had been fully weeded. Angie has a camp tomorrow that will be spreading the mulch. Finally, Kerrick left early so I finished up with weeding by Schiller.
We checked the trees down by the lily pond because they were newly planted. According to the city of St. Paul website, newly planted trees should be watered 1-2 times per week during dry periods in the spring, summer and fall months, and trees planted within the last 5 years should be watered once every 1-2 weeks. According to the University of Missouri extension office one method that is especially effective in the first year is using drip irrigation. Drip irrigation can occur through the use of water bags around trees. The most common brand of water bags is tree gator. Water bags are zippered bags that have holes on the bottom that allow water to slowly dispense into the root ball of trees.
Wednesday was mowing day. Kerrick and I were the only ones who push mowed today because Amanda was injured on Friday. I started off by doing the areas on zoo grounds that needed to be mowed and weed whipped where needed. Kerrick started off in Como Town and I met him when I was done. After that, we did the boulevards in the wolf lot and went out front and did the boulevards in the palm lot, wings by the historic entrance, frog pond boulevard, and excedra. We ended our mowing by doing all of the service drive. After mowing, we cleaned the mowers which took us to the end of the day.
Thursday morning I went into Como Town and worked on weeding there. Then since Kerrick, Angie, and Heather were mowing in the lion and tiger yards, we were given a behind the scenes tour of the cat house and got to see where the cats are housed at night and watched as the keeper opened the gates for them to go outside into the yards. After that, Kerrick and I went and weeded the many beds by excedra to prepare it for a photoshoot that is taking place tomorrow morning.
Friday morning Kerrick and I went and watered out front. While watering the intern bed, I noticed that the sweet potato vine has taken over the part of the intern bed on top of the rocks and is covering up ost of the millet in that area. Then, we weeded and mulched the tiered bed by the arctic fox exhibit. After that, we watered gates ajar and weeded the half moons with ornamental grass out front by the double sidewalk. Finally, we watered the young trees down by the historic lily pond and weeded around the lily pond.
The plant of the week is ornamental sweet potato vine Ipomoea batatas. Sweet potato vine is an annual plant that is a vigorous grower with a height up to 2 ft. and a width of up to 5ft.. The new foliage starts off green and then turns a gorgeous shade of purple which is a great accent to just about any plant. They do best in warm, summer days with moist, well-drained soil and thrive in sun or shade. Sweet potato vine has many uses including containers, beds, and borders. (Information from better homes and garden: http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/annual/sweet-potato-vine/)
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