Volunteering at Heathcote Botanical Garden, Day 1

Today was the first day of volunteering at Heathcote Botanical Gardens. Wed's from 9-12 everyone that volunteers shows up and scatters through out the gardens, and begins cleaning up or trimming. Aaron from AYiFP and myself went up to the gardens without a clue on what they were going to tell us to do. When we showed up late, because of my early job, we were givin' the 2 minute tour on were all of the tools and supplies were located. Score, behind the scenes, she also showed us the propagation and growing areas. During this tour she asked what were our interests? Palms was shouted out without a second of hesitation. She began to tell us about some of the new palms that were just donated and took us to were they were being kept. In this mix of new palms was a variegated christmas palm that only has 2 leaves, so it maybe only 6 or 8 months older than the 1 I had just sprout. Then she said that the "Palm Walk" needed some serious clean up. So now we are at home! She walked us through the walk and began pointing out what invasive plants they wanted removed and basically told us to have at it. This place was very over grown and we hauled out 4 carts worth of debris and only touched a little section. We also debooted a Bismarckia noblis that has been neglected for a little while. I have a picture of the start, but my batteries died before I was able to take the after picture. So you will have to check back next week to see the after pic. So we have are work cut out for us in the months to come. This will probably become a weekly update on our progress on cleaning up and creating new walk ways through the "Palm Walk" at Heathcote. So if you are visiting the gardens and you find yourself in the "Palm Walk" make sure you think about the Ft Pierce Yard Bloggers that are cleaning and revealing lost palms from the over growth for all of our enjoyment!