My Third Office

7/14/14

My first office is the student office. My second office is the arboretum. This here is my third office...or at least me in it. 

This is Adam’s glasshouse located all the way down in Plant Production, across from my cottage. Here is where I am spending half of my time on this project of mine. Originally it was a house funded by Ball Horticulture. Before Adam became a Kirstenbosch hort., he was in a joint project with Ball to commercialize some of the plants in South Africa. When the project ended, a position just so happened to open up in the garden, which he was easily able to commandeer because he was already a part of SANBI. Anyways, this house features trees, groundcovers, and understory plants for the arboretum. Adam also keeps his personal collection of succulents, bonsais, bulbs, oxalis and other plants as well.

My primary business in here is with this bench.

This bench is a collection of alpine succulents containing Crassulas, Senecios, and Plectranthus species. They were originally acquired to be transplanted into a previously constructed living wall. Less than a decade ago the garden featured a sculpture artist and his intricate designs using metal to form half-man-half-animal creatures. The pieces were displayed around the garden and in a round silo constructed on one of the main lawns. On the exterior of the silo, a green wall. Fun fact, the plants of the wall were inserted into coke cans. Yes, coke cans were used to line that wall. Anyways, sadly enough the exhibit had to be prematurely terminated due to complaints by members of the community. The complaints addressed the demonic nature of the art pieces and made a case that some of the specimens were uncomforting for the garden. It certainly lasted long enough for the wall to be constructed and I remember viewing the display when I last visited Kirstenbosch! But you tell me if they look creepy or not; I think they do.

Anyways the succulents have been sitting on this bench for quite some time. You can observe overgrown succulents, undergrown succulents, succulents taking over succulents, weeds taking over succulents, or my favorite- moss devastation (where moss has taken over). On top of that, everything is somewhat scattered all over the place. A lot of the material I am using have full trays, yet still require some bulking up and propagation. To accommodate this necessity, I can use the trays and mother-stock to harvest cuttings.

So here’s what I am doing. First, I reorganized everything. The material with the blue flags require some form of work to be done. I moved all those closer to the propagation bench, then came the plants we’re using but do not need attention, then the extra mother-stock and unnecessary succulents.

After I organized, I started propagating. There wasn’t really a method to my madness when it came to choosing what to work on, it was more of a time ordeal. I don’t like leaving a task to be finished the next day. Since these are succulents, they are relatively multiply. In fact, they are probably the easiest. Succulents don’t even need auxin powder to root, but because we are hoping for a quick turn-around, we are going to use them. Some of the stock plants already have roots being produced despite their lack of soil or additional hormones. So the process is very simple. Here are my 5 basic propagating steps:

1   1. Fill: Fill the tray with a fine substrate consisting of about half organic material and half inorganic material (sand).

2   2. Divide: Take cuttings or separate plantlets from each other.

3   3.  Dip n’ stick: Dip plants into an auxin compound, then stick the cutting into/on top of the media.

4   4. Douse: Water the plants with a formula containing 2ml of Terminator fungicide and a splash of kelpak.

5   5. Make em’ cozy: Place them on a heated mist bench and forget about them for a week.

      

      The only plants we have requiring a slightly modified procedure are the Senecios. For example, Senecio rowleyanus, commonly referred to as string-of-pearls, is being placed in a gritty sand substrate and on top of just a heated bench instead of the mist bench. They also require a stem to grow instead of just a leaf. The cool thing about these pendulous ground covers is that they are in the Asteraceae yet the round ball like structures are the leaves. Much different than a daisy or sunflower leaf! To add more, their flower smells quite lovely. Crazy how diverse the Asteraceae family really is.

As soon as the cuttings begin to form a significant root structure, I can begin planting them in the wall.

Here are the plants I have begun working with and have identified for use of the wall:

·         Crassula pellucida

·         C. hannii

·         C. nudicaules

·         C. exilis

·         C. muscosa

·         C. setulosa var. diminuta

·         C. setulosa ‘Globe’

·         C. setulosa ‘Rubra’

·         C. setulosa ‘Grey’

·         C. setulosa ‘Witsieshoek’

·         C. orbicularis ‘Double Rossette’

·         C. orbicularis ‘Waterfall Bluff’

·         C. terreta

·         C. lainsburg

·         C. socialis

·         C. pellucida ‘Waterfall Bluff’

·         C. cordata

·         C. robinson

·         Senecio serpens

·         S. rowleyanus

·         Plectranthus purpuratis

We are also considering other plants like some Stapelias (which have these big stinky flowers and shown below) or other succulent Asters, but the list is good enough for now. 

Oh and I almost forgot! This is Tobela. He works in the glasshouse under Adam's directions. He helps out from time to time and is always smiling. He is my friend. :)