What's That Smell?

Please listen to song while reading blog

The Palm House: 
In the Palm House, the sound of rushing water and unusual palms under-planted with lush groundcover plants create a tropical feeling throughout the year. Cultivated for centuries, palms are used for clothing, shelter, fuel and food. Cycads, which are also in the Palm House, are an ancient, non-flowering group of plants closely related to pines and other conifers. Prolific in the age of the dinosaurs, cycads today are considered living fossils.
Noteworthy plants: Three-Cornered Palm (Dypsis decaryi), Queen-Palm (Cycas circinalis), Wild Date Palm (Phoenix sylvestris), Bottle Palm (Hyophorbe lagenicaulis), Clustered Fishtail Palm (Caryota mitis)

As soon as I crossed the threshold from the tunnel into the Palm House, I entered an alternate reality. I felt like I was Ursula from George of the Jungle, and a butt-flap wearing Brendan Fraser would swing down on a vine to whisk me away to Ape Mountain. Alas, no Brendan Fraser appeared as I dragged the hose (ew is that a spider?) out of the tunnel to "give everything a good drink". I'm sure there's a trick to dragging the 300 foot hose around without shmushing plants (oh my gosh I hope that frog doesn't jump on my head) or tripping myself, but I haven't figured it out yet. Since the Palms are directly planted into the ground instead of into soil on top of concrete, their root systems are incredibly extensive and must be watered thoroughly. This means that by the end, there are standing puddles both on the ground and in my shoes. I do find it mildly satisfying to be covered in mud as I put away the hose because I feel like I actually did my job well. You can't be a horticulturalist without getting dirty.
"Oh my goodness gracious! What on earth is that smell?!?!" is all I could think as I watered a particularly large cycad. It seriously smelled like someone let their dog do its business in the water supply. It got stronger and stronger then suddenly...nothing. Not even a hint of sewage in the air. You know what it was? Mushroom compost. Kennett Square is the mushroom capital of the world, and the farmers were preparing their crop with some fresh compost.

What I Learned Today:

1. Zero turn radius lawnmowers are not for the inexperienced. I almost took out a PG's precious garden plot before a low-hanging branch almost took out my precious face. Steering wheels I can handle...awkward lap bars I cannot handle.
2. No matter how long you live in Kennett Square, you will never get used to the smell of mushroom compost.
3. Row clean-up is just as character building as it sounds. If you can't mulch or drive the Kubota, you are sentenced to weeding duty in everyone's flowerbeds or picking up rocks in the parking lot.
4. I am not a boisterous person.

 

 

 

The main cycad in the Palm House

The Palm House from the viewing deck