Nurseries

For the last week or so, I've been going around to different nurseries, assessing what's available, and comparing prices. So far I've been to Moon Valley Nursery (the Chandler location) and Desert Horizon. At both locations I've found a lot of cool plants that I wasn't initially considering, such as grape vines and foxtail ferns. They both also have quite a variety of herbs. However, I've had trouble finding sunflowers and multiple varieties of basil. Neither of the locations had any sunflowers at all, and both only had sweet basil. For herbs in general, I was thinking that it would save money to buy the cheapest herbs I can find, and then use them to propagate even more herb plants, but I'm trying to get the garden put together by early April, and it takes time for cuttings to not only sprout roots but also grow into a larger plant. So far the cheapest I've found are $2.69 per four inch plant.

Garden Update #2

In the last post I posted pictures of the garden, but I just wanted to clarify which part I will be working on. The whole fenced area will be a demonstration garden, with an outdoor classroom, planter beds for horticultural lessons, and a variety of other exhibits for learning. The sensory garden that I'm working on will be along the fence of the entrance. From the perspective of my photos, that fence is on the left. To increase space and make it more user friendly, I'm hoping to build a few vertical gardens along the fence. If I can put herbs and small flowering plants in the vertical gardens, then I can save the area on the ground along the fence for bushes and shrubs. And since there's a plain fence lining the garden, I want to decorate it with vines.

Garden Update #1

Since my project is based around building a garden, I figured I should provide pictures of its development. Right now, the garden is empty. But hopefully not for long.

Herbs

Day Five:

So far, I've made a list and done lots of research on flowers, herbs, and fruit trees. I'm really excited to be planting a small herb garden within the larger sensory garden. I think the herbs will add a lot to the "sensory" theme, especially since they can be harvested and will be the main contributors to the garden's appeal to taste. The herbs I chose are mint, rosemary, lavender, basil, thyme, chives, and oregano. I want to plant three kinds of basil: thai, sweet, and purple, so that I can have a small pot or planter bed dedicated to just basil, since they need much more water than the other herbs. I also plan to keep mint separately because they can be invasive. I thought about having multiple kids of mint, like with the basil, but if I plant varieties of mint close to one another, they can actually start to cross-breed and blend scents. Since the overall garden is relatively small, I have also been thinking about how to creatively display the herbs and also maybe some of the flowers. I want to plant the herbs in a standing or vertical garden bed so that they are more accessible and are presented better than if they were to be sitting in a planter bed on the ground.

Picking the Plants

Day One:

On February 6th, my first day at the Environmental Education Center, I focused on researching plants for the garden. I plan to include a variety of flowers, succulents, and herbs. The first plant I researched, and also the most likely to be included, are sunflowers. They are extremely well-suited for this sensory garden because not only can they survive the Arizona heat, but they also appeal to sight, sound, taste, and touch. Implementing sunflowers will be useful for attracting wildlife (birds, etc.) and providing an opportunity for the EEC to host horticultural classes. Among the existing kinds of sunflowers, I want to utilize mammoth, sunbeam, and either autumn beauty or Mexican. The mammoth sunflowers, are the largest, and probably most well known. They provide the most seeds, but are also difficult to grow because they can reach up to 12 ft. tall. Sunbeams are a beautiful, golden yellow, and they are the variety that inspired Van Gogh's series of sunflower paintings. And lastly, I want to include either the autumn beauty or Mexican sunflowers (ideally both) because they add color. Both varieties are shades of red; the autumn beauties are more burgundy, and the Mexican sunflowers are a bright red-orange. I would like to include both, but I think it would be better to only include one, and leave room for other flowers instead.