Behind the scenes at Prescott Park

How Portsmouth centerpiece gardens are planted and maintained

Babs Benn, Staff Gardener; photos Judy Palm

Prescott Park is undeniably one of the jewels of the New Hampshire Seacoast. Wedged between the southern bank of the Piscataqua River and Strawbery Banke, it consists of seven acres of gardens and lawns open to the public year-round, free of charge. Features ranging from formal plantings to island picnic areas with barbecue grills make it a hit with visitors of all ages who return again and again. The lush garden beds filled with bright and colorful blossoms are certainly the most admired part of the Park, and many home gardeners surely imagine themselves at their dream job in a place like this, tending to the lovely flowers and the bushes and plants all day long. But the reality behind the making of the lavish summer gardens we all admire is perhaps not so dreamy as one might think. Let’s take a look behind the scenes.

WINTER

Scarcely has the snow begun to blow, when preparations for the summer season get underway. Early in the new year Park Manager Michael Warhurst begins to develop the budget and plan the gardens for the coming summer. As a public trust of the City of Portsmouth, Prescott Park is ultimately governed by a Board of Trustees, which, among other things, oversees all budgetary decisions. The most obvious cost is for plant materials; some 15,000 plants are brought in to the Park each summer, supplied by four to six wholesalers. Orders are usually placed by March 1 to allow ample growing time in the vendors’ greenhouses.

EARLY SPRING

The staff begins part-time work in late March and early April. Though planting is months away, it seems there is barely enough time to get the Park ready for the season before trucks full of flowers begin to roll up. Lawns are aerated and thatched, lamp tops are returned to their poles, trash and recycling barrels are placed around the grounds, old mulch is removed and innumerable other preparations are made before warm weather arrives.



DAMAGE CONTROL

Damage to the plantings and grounds from both nature and the visitors is certain, but unpredictable. Park staff spends a goodly amount of time responding to both. The windstorms of February and March this year packed a powerful punch, and Prescott Park was not spared. One of eight littleleaf linden trees surrounding the stage lawn was toppled in the night, falling onto the wooden fence that surrounds the Formal Garden.  Removal of the linden took more than 20 work hours.  At least twice a month a staff member trained as an arborist treats broken and dangling branches to secure the safety of the public as well as the health of the trees.






FOUNTAINS

Four ornamental fountains in the Park help provide the feeling of a peaceful, reflective oasis close to the heart of the city. There are three small fountains in the Formal Garden, as well as the large commemorative Hovey fountain. The fountains add visual and audible dimensions to the Park as well as many hours of maintenance. They would begin to look like scum-crusted vernal pools if it weren’t for the scrubbing and cleaning that is done weekly, or more often if needed. They must be drained to effect a good cleaning, and the refill alone takes from three to five hours.

PLANTING

In late April or early May – long before the flowers arrive at the Park – preparations for planting begin. The first item of business is to rake the old mulch off the beds. Mulch laid down the previous summer is beginning to decompose into the soil. Though that might seem a good and nourishing thing, in fact, the decomposition process itself robs the soil of nutrients that the new plants will need. In addition, old mulch that has become matted will prevent water penetration, and mulch that has fungus or insect infestation will spread these troubles to the new plants. With an estimated 60 garden beds that receive mulching, removing all of it can be quite a time-consuming task. Once the beds are cleared, 5-10-10 pellet fertilizer is broadcast across the soil. Rototillers are then used to plow the firm soil to loosen it for quicker planting. This job takes two people the better part of a day to complete and leaves the beds fluffy and well-turned, but deeply rutted from the tiller. Therefore, smoothing all beds with hard rakes must be done before any plants can go into the ground. The raking process doesn’t involve any heavy work and goes fairly quickly – though many’s the bed that must be raked again, and perhaps again, due to mysterious footprints that appear in the night, trampling and compressing the prepared soil.

While early spring preparation is underway, perennial spring blooms brighten the whole park.












As Prescott Park has no nursery or greenhouse space, local wholesale growers are contracted to supply the truckloads of plants that are needed each year. The plantings are primarily composed of brilliant and long-flowering annuals, but these tender plants cannot be put into the ground too early. A combination of rainfall, ground temperature and overnight temperature is considered when judging when it is safe to plant. In general, this is around Memorial Day weekend. From this point, the planting process can take as long as a month to complete.



Though the new plants are watered quite a bit at first, the application of mulch is a critical final step for successful growth. Mulching is important for the inhibition of weed growth, to keep the soil around the plants a more constant temperature, and to reduce water evaporation. An in-ground irrigation system is used to water the vast stretches of lawn and garden beds, but conservation of resources is of utmost importance.



Dark pine and spruce bark mulch is the product of choice. It is delivered by dump trucks in early June, and placed in one giant mountain. Over the next month or so, staffers use the two Park trucks, garden carts, wheelbarrows, pitchforks and shovels to chip away at the mountain, reducing it to handfuls of mulch that are smoothed around the base of each individual plant.  It takes 45 yards (roughly 18-22 tons) of mulch to cover the designated areas.






It is not unusual for all of the described planting and mulching to take until the second week of July to complete. From then on, the plants flourish and bloom, attracting thousands of visitors to the riverfront, to admire and delight in their beauty. Staff continues to weed, water, trim and deadhead as needed, but the bulk of the work establishing the beds is complete.

Anyone who has ever planted a rose bush, petunia or bent over to pick a daisy knows that gardening is labor intensive. Your focus is usually on something at ground level, and that means getting down on the ground, back up, bending over, working in awkward positions to reach, pull, cut, deadhead. All work is done outdoors in all kinds of weather. After a day's work at Prescott Park the staff can rest assured their labor is not in vain.   




By the end of June you can see what the gardens will look like as summer progresses. The following were taken late June and will become even more impressive as the weeks go by. The first picture below was taken in April so you can compare what a difference two months makes.





















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July, 2010

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