adn.com | Talk Dirt To Me : Q&A with Municipal Gardener Amy Hubbard

Talk Dirt To Me

Do you love to make mud pies, grow a houseplant, eat veggies, or stop to smell the bouquet on your co-workers desk? Everyone enjoys a bit of green growing around him or her and then there are those that are passionate and needy when it comes to dabbling in the dirt. With this blog, we'll try to satisfy those needs and tell you about what's going on with the Anchorage gardening scene. You know, as I finally learned, it's all about the dirt.

Photographer and gardener Fran Durner (fdurner@adn.com) writes the blog.

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Q&A with Municipal Gardener Amy Hubbard

Posted by talkdirt

Posted: April 8, 2008 - 4:27 pm

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Municipal Gardener Amy Hubbard. Photo by Fran Durner/ADNAmy Hubbard has been a gardener with the Municipality of Anchorage for 22 years, working her way up to being in charge of making sure the flowers that are grown for the garden beds and baskets around town are in perfect bloom by the time they are set out in the beginning of the summer.

Q: The Municipal greenhouses and gardeners are responsible for making the gardens and hanging baskets around our fair city look as beautiful as they do every year. Give us some numbers - how many greenhouses, how many gardeners, how many plants and how many baskets are you growing right now?
A: We have 11 greenhouses with 4 attached cold frames, 6 permanent gardeners and 25 seasonal gardeners. We grow about 85,000 plants, between 200 to 300 varieties, and 1100 baskets.

Muni gardeners have been busy seeding since December. Photo by Fran Durner/ADN Q: When do you get started and what are the first seeds you plant?
A: We start seeding the last week in December; with a few perennials, Achillea, Fan Lobelia, Lupine, & Digitalis. Our largest seedings start in January with the Geraniums & Begonias.

Geranium 'Black Velvet Scarlet' will be new this year. Photo by Fran Durner/ADN Q: The Municipal gardeners were responsible for introducing artichokes and cynara into the garden landscape – do you have anything new to show us this year?
A: No new veggies this year, however we are trying some varieties of flowers we haven’t grown in the past; Geranium 'Black Velvet Scarlet', Helenium 'Helena Mix', Poppy 'Flemish Antique', Asarina 'Red Dragon', Bupleurum 'Green Gold', Coreopsis 'Rising Sun', Pansy 'Delta Fire', Rudbeckia 'Maya', and Salvia 'Oasis'.

Q: How about in the All American display garden near the greenhouse?
A: The AAS bed will include the 2008 winners Osteospurmum 'Asti White', Viola 'Skippy XL Plumb-Gold', as well as some previous winners; Rudbeckia 'Cherokee Sunset', Hollyhock 'Queeny Purple', Dianthus 'Ideal Violet', and Petunia 'Wave Purple'. It’s along the driveway leading to the public greenhouses if anyone wishes to check it out.

Q: You are also responsible for showing us that you can mix up ornamental flowers with herbs and vegetables, like cabbage and parsley, in garden beds. What are some combinations you’ll be using this year?
A: All the usual suspects including Artichokes with Begonias, Impatiens & parsley, tuberous Begonias with fibrous Begonias, Swiss chard, cabbage, & parsley, Snapdragons with Geraniums, Calendula, Pansies, & Ornamental Cabbage, Perilla with Asters, Begonias,& Violas, Ornamental Millet with Begonias, Petunias, Marigolds, Snapdragons, Salvia, & Rudbeckia. Gazania 'Daybreak Red Stripe' begins to bloom inside the Municipal Greenhouse. Photo by Fran Durner/ADN

Q: Last summer, the combination of Cynara and Clary Sage made a huge visual impact at the Town Square. What do you have planned for Town Square this year?
A: Everything from Achillea to Verbena, but the plants of most interest might be, Craspedia Globosa Drumstick, (you’ll recognize it when you see it by its name) Bells of Ireland, Poppy 'Flemish Antique', Cerinthe Purpurescens, Helenium 'Helena Mix', Pansy 'Delta Fire', Statice 'Suworowii', 2005 AAS winner Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun', and of course the mixed Dahlia bed.

Q: Tell us your secret for getting plants to flower as early as you do!
A: It’s all in the timing of the seeding.

Q: Your delphiniums always look perfect. How do you manage to avoid the defoliating caterpillars?
A: We thank our lucky stars they don’t know our address. On a serious note, we use Delphiniums as annuals and the caterpillars can’t become established on them.

This bud may yet produce bananas. Photo by Fran Durner/ADN Q: The tropical greenhouse is something of a well-kept secret. When is it open and what can one see inside it?
A: We don’t intend for it to be a secret and it amazes me how many people don’t know about the public houses. They’re open 7 days a week 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, except some holidays. This area is open for self-guided tours, weddings, and other special occasions. You will find an aviary, a small fish pond, and park benches as well as a large variety of tropical plants; Cactus, Bromeliads, Marantas, Lilliacea, Orchids, Agaves, and Ficus. Well, the list is very long and includes a fruiting fig and banana tree. It’s a great cure for SADS or cabin fever.

Q: Last year you occasionally had extra starts available for sale at the Lidia Selkregg Chalet. Will you have extras available again this year?
A: Probably, but we won’t know that for sure until we’re finished with transplanting.

Municipal Gardener Sandi Potvin carries trays of impatiens seedling ready to be repotted. Photo by Fran Durner/ADN Q: It’s always a thrill to see gardeners planting the flowerbeds and hanging baskets along the downtown avenues. Do you have a start date for this summer?
A: Weather dependant, the third week in May.

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2 October 18, 2008 - 12:46am | games

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1 April 9, 2008 - 1:57pm | tagalak

banana trees

Fran, The type of banana trees that the ladies brought back from the NWGShow (photo of Camille Williams taken for an early blog post).... are they the same kind as the one in this post? Truly awesome -- do they have a scent?

April 10, 2008 - 9:09am | talkdirt

Banana tree

I don't know the specific variety in the Muni tropical house but I would think that it is one of the less hardy varieties since it is in there. No scent that I was aware of. The bananas that Alaskan gardeners brought back from the NW Flower and Garden Show were promised to be hardy to Zone 4! It will be a test to see how many of them actually make it through an Alaskan year. If you haven't been to visit the Muni tropical house, make a point of it - fabulous antidote to this weather!

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