Thursday, July 27, 2017 – Propagating Coleus, Cleaning Benches & Hoop House, Pliers on Rogue Trees

Sis. Johnson and I worked indoors all day today. It rained in the early morning and it was overcast all day and it would have been pleasant to work in the gardens but the Coleus plants needed attention right away. They are all getting overgrown in their 3” pots and they desperately need a haircut. But before we pruned them back we had to harvest several cutting from each of the hundreds of varieties. We didn’t finish today, maybe tomorrow.

 

While Sis. Johnson and I worked in the propagation room with Emilie and Bekah the rest of the grounds crew worked on sorting and cleaning the shaded benches. There are a lot of left over annual plants that never made it into the gardens that no longer have a use. They were all sorted and most of them had to be hauled away. 

While all of the excess plants were being tossed into the trailer for the compost pile, I asked Richard a question, “Doesn’t it just break your heart to see all of those plants being thrown away.” He replied, “I look at it in a positive light, now I don’t have to water them anymore.”

Also on today’s cleaning agenda was the greenhouse we call the “Hoop House.” As part of today’s cleaning it was completely emptied of all plants. Then Rylan and Lani swept it and hosed it out to completely clean it. Next it will be completely sterilized and sanitized in the next few days. After Richard finishes with the antifungal and antibacterial agents the hoop house will be clean enough to eat your morning eggs and bacon off the floor.

Richard took Elder Cantwell and Elder Kyle Johnson to the Visitor’s Center to pull weeds and “Rogue Trees” in the Liriope beds. But this time he tried something new, Richard used pliers to pull on the rogue trees to get them out roots and all. It worked, we had a half inch of rain over night and the soil was soft and the sapling trees came out with a little effort. Some were harder than other but it was much faster than cutting them down and then treating the tiny trunk with poison like we’ve been doing in the past. 

It is amazing how many old friends we’ve had the fortune to see here in Nauvoo while we’ve served our mission here. Again today we had another one of those unexpected sweet surprises.  An old friend, Don Dennee, (from our home ward while Sis. Johnson and I were in high school) came with his Stake’s Youth Conference from the State of Mississippi. They were on the road 14 hours to get here. Also another High School friend is here with his ward’s youth, Jack Heywood. This is Jack’s second visit with us in the last year.

It was really fun to spend time together and renew old acquaintances. Jack Heywood was here last August but this is the first time I’ve seen and talked to Don Dennee in 46 years. Even though it’s been 48 years since we graduated from high school together, they are both very dear friends of Sis. Johnson and I and we really enjoyed their visit.