Monday consisted of watering outside, putting down pine straw, planting of pots with caladium and coleus, removing old mulch, and moving plants which had been delivered. Pine straw is used by speeder bike is where cast photos are sometimes taken. For example, during star wars weekend pictures with Chewbacca can be taken here so it is very important to have pine straw to cover exposed soil so it is checked daily to see if any needs to be added. Old mulch is being removed and replaced with a different color which from my understanding is something that they do seasonally. The current color is golden and the new color is cocoa. In moving plants we loaded up carts for a crew which was to come in overnight and do some changing of annuals as well as preparing for what our crew was to do the following day. Empty carts were moved outside the gate so they could be picked back up by the company that they came from.
Tuesday morning consisted of watering interiors in commissary and removing dead leaves. Then, I helped with planting of caladium in the area they call tots which is by the Beauty and the Beast show. After that I helped add some interiors plants, moved plants in the yard, got rid of old pots, and dumped the Toro.
Wednesday started off as the rest of this week did with watering. Then, I helped Paula remove some plants she had put in pots backstage and add some caladiums and coleus. I then removed begonias and added an interior plant in a shady area. Then, I removed crown of thorn from pots over by the bungalows backstage and added Canna lilies (red, yellow, and pink) as well as some Torenia fournieri 'Clown Blue on Blue' and Pentas lanceolata 'Graffiti White'. Images of these flowers can be found below Torenia on the left, canna lilies in the middle, and Pentas on the right. The pots by the bungalows I did myself with only direction as to what plants to put in there and a general layout with the canna lilies in the middle and the Torenia and Pentas on the outer edge. I did not get a chance to take a picture of the final product but if I water over there early next week I will try to remember to take a picture.
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| Part of the victory garden a week and a half after planting |
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| Graph from a resistograph |
Thursday afternoon the interns once again had a class. Class this week was all about arboriculture. We met the Urban Forester Scott Schultz. For the first hour, we were outside at two stations. At the first station Scott talked to us a little bit about what his job entails and how they determine whether a tree needs to be removed or not. The three things his job focuses on are tree health, tree risk, and best practices. He told us that the most important is tree risk because a tree falling in the park on guests would be extremely bad. In going out and looking at trees which don't look good the first test they do is to pound on the tree with a mallet to determine if a hollow exists. If a hollow is inside the tree then it will sound like a drum. However a tree can survive even if it has a hollow therefore they use a resistograph which is a tool that drills a very small hole through the tree and determines how hard wood is by creating a graph that shows the resistance throughout the tree as can be seen in the image above. Another thing he showed us was a pump up pressure chamber which can be used to determine the water potential within a leaf or small stem which will help determine if a tree needs more water. The best time to use this is before daybreak or between the hours of 1 and 3pm. The other outdoor demonstration showed different ways that the arborists climb trees and the equipment which they use. Then, for the second hour of class we talked about palm trees. We discussed some differences between palm trees and other trees. Palm trees only have one growing point, trunks do not increase in diameter, holes in palm trees never heal over, and palm trees are less likely to up-heave sidewalks. We then talked about three things which are used in identification of palm trees. They look at whether there is a single or multiple trunks, the types of fronds (palmate, costapalmate, pinnate, or bipinnate), and interesting characteristics of palms (such as boots (leaf base remaining on the trunk), scurf, reins, petticoat, and crownshaft). In talking about the care of palms the fertilizer used is 8-2-12-4 (N-P-K-Mg) however now the phosphorus is being removed. For pruning this occurs once a year after flowering and seedling which for most palms is May 15th but for the Sabal palm which is the state tree of Florida this is as late as July 15th. Palms are pruned no more that 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock while disney does 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock. We also briefly talked about diseases such as the palm leaf skeletonizer and fusarium (which is affecting Washingtonia palms).
Friday morning once again consisted of mostly watering because a number of the full time staff are out on vacation. Then, palms were counted. The palms in every park are being counted so that they know how many of each kind and where they are planted (by location and if it is a grate, concrete, landscape, or flexi-pave). This will help them to monitor for disease as well as being used in preparation for fertilizing which they will be doing soon. Michael and I counted the palms in the parking lot and by the main entrance which are all Washingtonia robusta Mexican Fan Palm besides two of them which are Sabal palmetto Cabbage Palm.
Plant of the week:
The featured plant this week is Washingtonia robusta Mexican Fan Palm. This palm is native to Mexico and can grow to be more than 80 feet tall. It has a single trunk that is slender and straight tapering up:often covered in old leaves or old leaf bases. Foliage is palmate; medium green in color with many gray threads. Flowers are long, spadices among the leaves that are longer than the foliage mass. Because palms are evergreen foliage remain green year-round. (Information from Plant Identification book given to all Horticulture Interns).
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