Awesome Job

Vacation is over and it is back to work for me, having just finished my first week at Ladera Resort helping Ray (the head gardener) with some landscaping projects. We have a mighty list to accomplish this year as Ladera is ever changing. The addition of six new units on Paradise Ridge means we need to get growing. The new units will require lots of plants so propagation is on the agenda and we are beefing up the shade greenhouse to accomplish that goal.

Ray and his helper are busy installing new block walls to the terraced greenhouse while I start the renovation of the existing botanical garden. We tore out a rather outdated arbor and vines replanting the hillside with freshly cut ginger plantlets which will eventually be used in floral decorations through out the resort in addition to their sustained beauty in the gardens.

One of my tasks this week was to plant seeds in cell trays, I had forgotten how tedious it is to use tweezers and drop those tiny seeds (impatiens, everlasting daisy, Mexican sunflower and strawflower) one by one into each cell. Average sprouting time for these seeds is 14 days but I suspect with the great weather down here we will beat that time.

We are also busy spraying the lower gardens for pests and performing general clean-up. With our new help these tasks are going exceedingly well. What a awesome way to spend a month over winter.