This time I was ready to do real work. I wore hiking boots, my old softball uniform, and jeans I've had since the eighth grade.
Mr. Seaman approved my outfit and handed me a bottle of OFF!. He then handed me a sickle and we were on our merry way.
A Japanese man intercepted us and said that help would be needed to plant some new "ti's." We proceeded to another greenhouse. Here we sorted out and grouped different ti varietes.They had beautiful names like Waihee Rainbow and Carolina Juni. The , Japanese man could name them by sight most of the time. Except for some vibrant reds, I could not differentiate between them.
We then loaded the plants into a Deer truck and went to the back end of the Arboretum's field. Repotting a plant is not the same as planting one in the earth.The Japanese man was very careful about the placemnt of the plants. We would dig a hole wherever he wantes, sprinkle Osmocote fertilizer, and place the plant he wanted into the hole. The displaced earth was then filled back in. A light sprinkiling of Osmocote was placed around the plant. One must remember not to let any above ground part of the plant touch the Osmocote for it could "burn" the leaves and create an unattractive plant.
After that was done the man thanked us and we walked to our original destination. The first part of the Arboretum is arranged very much like a decorative, landscaped garden. Each area is divided into little islands. These "islands" each have a specific variety of plant.
We (two other workers, Mr. Seaman, and I) weeded a large island. They offered me rubber gloves. The gloves were too big for my hands and made my already clumsy hands even more uneasy. I took them off.
Weeds, as you know, can suffocate other plants. What was of equal importance at the Arboretem was that the area look well kept and trimmed. If too many weeds grew on an island the area would look cluttered and the plants being displayed would go unnoticed.
It also rained that day (and every day I went there). Mr. Seaman offered me a raincoat. This, too, I could not tolerate. It was big and smelly. I was better off in the rain.
As the morning went on I became increasely adept at spotting "weeds". Besides your normal garded variety weeds like dandelions and Lovers, there were the ones that were just "not supposed to be in that area" A plant from one island would have its seedlings growing in another and this would be considered to be a weed. The weeds sometimes grew very large. The sickle was used to cut foot high weeds or chop vines away.
By the time 11:00 came it started to rain HARD. The trees weren't mich of a shelter. The raindrops would just collect on the leaves overhead and drop in one, large, huge raindrop. I was dirty, hungry, and ravaged by enormous mosquitos. Strange, because this type of activity proved to be therapeutic for this girly girl.
At 11:30 we stopped working. I did not feel tired. Instead, I found myself looking forward to my next visit.