One of the really nice things about my job is having the opportunity to work with young people just entering the fields of horticulture and/or landscape architecture. It can be hard to enter the industry. Luckily, we offer horticulture internships.

Each year we bring at least two interns to the farm and gardens for a three or four month intense experience in their fields. Mentoring is really important to me and to my colleague, Ethan Kauffman, who says our Moore Farm Internship is more than learning horticulture. It also is learning professional networking skills; how to make cold calls and introduce yourself; how to go from crusty fingernails and jeans at 4 oclock to clean hands and black tie at 8.

Horticulture Internships Application

We have a strenuous application process, and we bring the finalists in for an interview that may last several days. It is important that we find not only the best people from a resume and reference perspective, but also the best fit for our work and our professional staff.

Our interns live on the premises, eat their meals with the staff and often the owners, and are asked to participate in all social and training activities and programs. They do extensive research on propagation, growing techniques and design, and they work as a team to design, create an accurate budget and work plan for, and install/build a major project on site or in the community. They also are given opportunities to visit and sometimes work in other private or public gardens.

If you know of someone who might be interested in a summer internship in South Carolina, contact me.

Looking Good Now

Not that I’m the least bit prejudiced when it comes to the crinum, but among those things really looking good now is Crinum Louis Bosanquet. The very soft pink-to-white flower on this plant has blunt petals that remind me of a giant rain lily. While it is not nearly as popular as Ellen Bosanquet because its flowers are smaller, I really enjoy this early bloomer.

Iris Caesars Brother is another of my favorites right now. If the Crinum Louis Bosanquet is soft, pale and fragile, this beauty is a robust, vivid and rich purple. The flower sits atop an elegant, slender stem usually 3 to 4 feet high with a spread of 2.5 to 3 feet. It grows pretty easily in average, medium to wet soil in full sun to part shade, and tolerates a wide range of soils. This is a beautiful and long-live perennial that youll want to have in your garden.

Strawberry Begonia is another perennial that loves the shade. You might want to try this one under your roses on in dark spots where it will make beautiful masses of frilly white flowers. I almost always try to place mine near a spigot where they tend to thrive.

Acanthus Summer Beauty (Bears Breech) is in full flower in the secret garden in Lake City, and it is really dramatic. Some cultivars dont persist well in the South, but his one does. It does great in the shade but even will tolerate a little sun. It is flowering now in the shade on leaves that stretch 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide with followers reaching 5 feet or more.

Whats the Work:

Nows the time to plant those caladiums, zephyranthes and gay feather bulbs. Order them dry from bulb dealers as they are so much less expensive than live plants.
Cut and pull weeds especially under trees and in mulch rings where nothing else will grow for the summer. We always mulch with compost and put down a pre-emerge for summer weeds.
Plant veggie seeds, and remember that there is no need to isolate your vegetables in tidy rows. Plant your squash, beans and peppers by seed in your perennial borders.
Be directive! My mucuna, wisteria and Parthenocissus are growing so much that they need my intervention and some help in knowing where to go. And check those Clematis as well, particularly those in mixed borders. They may need some directional help to keep them from overtaking the roses and shrubs theyre growing on.