Welcome back! Grab a socially-distanced lawn chair and join us for our second instalment of Green (and Gold) Thumbs, the three-part series that showcases the botanic beauty nurtured by our talented University of Alberta Library staff. If you missed Part I, feel free to wander down the garden path to the story on our blog to get caught up!
Our Digital Content Specialist, Anna Bombak, shares this array of plants waiting for staff to rejoin them in the Digital Initiatives meeting rooms located in Cameron Library. Anna notes that they are sheltering in place, and staying six ivy-leaves’-distance apart.
Are you looking for a way to grow some healthy foliage to salads or sandwiches year-round? That’s exactly what Faculty Engagement Head (Health Sciences), Connie Winthers, did and succeeded! “I am not a gardener, but I do grow sprouts. They are a nice way to get some fresh greens, especially in the winter when lettuce is so expensive,” she explains, “Plus they are so easy, even for someone who is not great at keeping plants alive.”
Public Services Librarian, Allison Sivak emailed this great selfie and said, “I might have gone overboard with seedlings”… Ummm, based on the plant pictures we’ve received, we are fairly confident that there is no such thing as going ‘overboard’. We are crossing our fingers for an invitation to socially-distance in her garden after everything has taken root!
Cameron Library Information Service Specialist, Chris Bateman shared this amazing photo of his his beautiful Butternut Squash seedling. He says he will be re-potting to a bigger home on his balcony soon.
We can always count on Carmen Loconte to answer the call for plant pictures! This Information Services Specialist (Rutherford/Weir Library) is also a Green Thumbs Specialist. Carmen’s collage features, “fresh herbs and baby tomato plants waiting patiently to go outside. Can’t wait to make this year’s batch of fresh salsa!” Carmen also adds, “I also had to throw in a couple of pictures of other greenery in my front room, including my hibiscus tree that is blooming like crazy right now”.
Cathie Crooks, Associate Director / Manager Planning & Operations with the University of Alberta Press, made us laugh out loud as she describes the experience of taking care of the office plants at home. “To keep them happy, we’ve given them several UAlberta Press books to keep them company,” she explained, “It’s a bit like looking after the class hamster from elementary school — you hope to return it in good condition!”
Thanks for the view! We invite you to subscribe to our newsletter (scroll down to the bottom right side of this page). Stay tuned to our blog for the grande finale of Our Green (and Gold) Thumbs trilogy, and more great musings from our fantastic team of storytellers, data-knitters, and database dreamers. If you are interested in applying Cathie Crooks’ plant-caring method (see above), be sure to check out the University of Alberta Press’ website for some fantastic titles to keep your garden company.