Week 5: Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf

Monday morning started off by walking the two courses at Fantasia gardens miniature golf. While walking the course large weeds weeds were removed along with branches and other debris. Then, Lance showed us how to use some of the power equipment. First, we had the opportunity to try out the edger along  a flowerbed and along the sidewalk. Then, we were able to use the reciprocator pictured to the right to take down torpedo grass which had been killed with a weed killer. Next, we had the opportunity to use the tiller in an area. After break, we did some weeding around the tennis courts and watered plants in the holding area. 

Tuesday morning started off once again by walking the courses. First, I rode around the parking lot with Ira looking for any noticeable weeds or other debris. Then, we walked the gardens course backwards. I found 5 golf balls today in addition to the 7 that I picked up yesterday. After walking the course, I raked mulch out of a bed and we pulled the azaleas out. The pictures to the left show the bed after it had been raked and the azaleas were pulled but not yet tossed out they are in piles in the pictures. After removing the debris, we began to till the bed Ira did some of it while I also did a portion of it. Unfortunately by 10am we were only halfway done with tilling but the golf course opens at 10am so we had to stop. We cleaned up the mess on the sidewalk (sweeping/washing down) and put pine straw down 2 ft. wide where the bed and sidewalk meet so that if someone were to step on it they will not be tracking mud onto the sidewalk. After break, Ira showed me how to trim palm trees using the pole saw. First we trimmed off some fronds which had been damaged the last time the arborists were trimming them and had now started to droop down. Then, we removed a dead frond from the Queen palms. After that, we trimmed some fronds off of one of the Sabal palms which had been affected by skeletonizer. Finally, we went to dump the Toro and empty it of the tools.

Wednesday Lance and I first put out hoses and walked the courses while Ira finished tilling the bed. Then, after he was done I helped to rake the bed flat. Next, we grabbed the new azaleas which were a different cultivar that will hopefully survive better in the area. Ira then set them out as Lance and I drove the Toro to get more and some that were wider. Then, Ira started to plant while I walked ahead of him removing the pots so he could quickly plant them and then I followed with the rake to cover up the footprints. Then, we started to put down mulch but ran out of time. The picture to the right shows the bed after it had been planted and before it was mulched. After putting down the mulch we had to clean up. After break, I went out into the parking lot to pick up hoses and pulled some weeds and picked up branches. Today I found a total of 7 golf balls.

Class this week was on Wednesday instead of Thursday. We had the opportunity to meet with the landscape architects. Surprisingly there are only four landscape architects on the team and two seasonal interns. They do facilities projects including re-purposing existing locations, working on the integrated facilities plan, other projects when horticulture managers come to them and the flower and garden festival as well as community relations projects, ADA improvements, mapping of the irrigation zones on the entire property which can be found on the hub. Irrigation is run on a central computer system known as maxicom which can tell what area a leak or issue might be located. The landscape architects also work on playground design throughout the parks. The architects showed us simple demonstrations of the technology that they use including SketchUp, AutoCad, and Revit. We also had the opportunity to visit the sticks which is where the drawings are archived.

Thursday morning while Ira finished with putting down mulch Lance and I walked the two courses. Then, I went with Ira out front by the sign and helped to trim some hedges with the hedge trimmer. After that, I worked on helping with some weeding and picking up of branches in the shade. I ended up finding a total of 20 golf balls today.

Friday morning I helped Ira to fertilize the palms first and then the flowerbeds and some of the grass throughout the gardens and fairways garden courses. Then, I ended my day by pulling out Virginia creeper which was climbing around the viburnum. I only found one golf ball today.

Plant of the week:
The plant of the week is Azalea Rhododendron hybrids. It is native to the Mediterranean region to Japan and grows to be 2-12ft. The shrub is upright, vase shaped, well-branched to the ground, dense, wider than high, and covered with blooms in the spring. Foliage is alternate 1.5" long crowded toward the end of the branches and dull green beneath with both sides being hairy. Flowers are funnel form white, or pink to purple, usually alone, and 3" wide. Maximum color in Florida is from January through March. This information is from the Plant Identification Manual given to all horticulture and pest management interns here at Disney. In talking to Ira one day I mentioned that I knew what azaleas look like because we had some in Minnesota. I told him that there were in fact some cold hardy cultivars they just bloom a few months later in Minnesota as we still have snow on the ground when they would bloom here. For more information visit http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/flowers/azaleas-rhododendrons-for-minnesota/.