Al... was the only person in the greenhouse when I arrived there. My first task was to help her distribute plants back to their home spots, having been lent out to one of the classes, for demonstration purposes. I suspect the class demonstration focused on the different types of plant leaves. I learned how to use the computerized data library of plants at the greenhouse. The plant library is useful to look up the location of specific plants. Unfortunately, the database only lists the room in which the plant belongs. It does not indicate on which bench the plant is located. One has to search the room to find similar plants in order to find a specific plant.
I spent the next hour and a half in Display Room 3, the Mediterranean Scrubland. I spent the time picking up leaves and trimming dead branches. In particular, I focused on the eucalyptus varieties, which tend to drop many of their leaves onto the ground.
The final hour was spent in Display Room 4, Diverse Deserts. Again, I swept up small dead leaves from the bed, and trimmed dead branches (there were very few). I discovered a few useful techniques: first, I used a pointed metal trowel to guide the white plastic labels into the granite gravel. Without the metal blade of the trowel, it is nearly impossible to push the bendy plastic into the sharp-edged granite gravel. The second technique is to use a long handle broom (preferably an old one) to lightly sweep the small leaves from the surface of the granite gravel covering the beds. Using a light touch lifts the dry leaves, but the gravel largely stays in place on the bed.
One very cool plant I noticed as I was cleaning is an orchid which has become adapted to a desert environment (see photo). It is called Eulophia petersii, native to Kenya. The leaves most resemble aloe or sansevieria plants.
Eulophia petersii (an orchid adapted to desert conditions, Africa)
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