Week 8

Monday the three interns went out front into the palm lot and weeded. We weeded in between the cars and also around the pine trees that are out front. "No weeds left behind," said Amanda. Mindy told us that from now until the end of the summer we will be weeding, watering, and mowing, and other odd jobs as they come about.

Tuesday consisted of more weeding. I used a different method for weeding today and that was to burn them. First, I started burning weeds that were under the roller coaster in Como town. Then, a thunderstorm that was potentially severe passed through so I met Amanda and Kerrick and we did some work for the indoor greenhouse staff. While inside, we put a potting mix which consisted of peat and rock wool and some other growing media into pots that will later be planted with chrysanthemums. We made sure not to pack the potting mix too tight. After the storm passed, I went in front of the conservatory and burned weeds in the cracks by the historic entrance which took me the rest of the day.

Upon Googling burning weeds with a torch, I found an article from June 26, 2012 in the Star Tribune titled "Putting the burn on weeds" which said that "fighting weeds with fire is one of the best and most natural ways to get rid of large perennial weeds, at least temporarily. The fire kills the tops of the plants and initial research shows that fire may be better than natural chemicals at preventing weeds from resprouting. However, the roots can remain underground especially in larger weeds which allows them to spring back to life." They also mentioned to be careful when burning on dry, windy days. I also found an article from Colorado State University Extension which said that "heat from the flame is transferred to the plant tissues, increasing the thermal energy of the plant cells and resulting in coagulation of cell proteins if the temperature is above 50°C. Exposing plant tissue to a
temperature of about 100°C for a split second (0.1 second) can result in cell membrane rupture, resulting in loss of water and plant death. Thus, the weeds do not need to be burned up, but rather just scorched. Flaming works best on very young weeds." Also, they mentioned that many communities prohibit the use of torches on weeds due to fire prevention laws.

Wednesday morning the interns were once again mowing. This week there were less areas to do because the grass isn't growing as quickly and some of the areas are starting to burn up. I went and did the areas in zoo grounds which included the bird and tortoise yard, picnic area, area behind the shrubs which Amanda and I pruned last week Friday and are called Viburnum, and the timber area as well as weed whipping these areas. Then, I mowed the piece of sod by the edible garden and met Amanda and Kerrick out front and helped to weed whip around the frog pond. After we were done mowing, we cleaned off the mowers. Once the mowers were clean and put away Kerrick and I weeded various areas within zoo grounds to prepare for a donor event which is taking place next week. Finally, we attended training for new time keeping system.

Thursday morning Kerrick and I had to cut back the Diervilla shrubs in Como Town Driving School because the people running the ride could not see the kids when they were driving. At the time, the shrubs were about 3-4' tall and 2-3' wide and were flowering, but we had to cut them down to about 1' X 1' leaving only a few leaves and exposing the woody portion of the plant. After that, we once again had to fix bamboo fencing around gorilla forest. Then, we went and did some weeding in the bird yard above the waterfall and finished up the day by weeding in the other areas of the zoo where a donor event will be taking place next week.

Friday morning Kerrick and I started off by watering out front including the intern bed, palm lot entry, double sidewalk, visitor center pots, pots and urns by the conservatory entrance, enchanted garden annuals, and excedra annuals. Then, we went down to gates ajar and watered that. After watering, we picked up various debris piles that were under the trees out front. Next, we cut back vines and branches that were blocking the sidewalk and parking along the part of the service drive which leads to the overflow parking lot. We also weed whipped along the fence and blew off the sidewalk. We finished off the day by putting the mules in the garage, putting away tools and cart keys, and then walking around the Japanese Garden.

The plant of the week is Viburnum. I'm not sure what exactly the species at Como is so I will talk about the genus in general, but I do know that the leaves were purple and they have red fruit. There are about 150 species and numerous cultivars of Viburnum. They range in size from 2-3' to 30'. The fragrance ranges from the sweetest perfume to the stenchiest stink. Flowers are white to pink and produce a fruit from yellow, orange, pink, red, blue, and black. (Information from Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by Michael A. Dirr)