Meet Makenna Blackford the Garden & Landscape Maintenance Intern

Hello, I am Makenna Blackford and at Reiman Gardens I am part of the Garden & Landscape Maintenance internship. I will be a soon-to-be Senior at Iowa State University, majoring in Landscape Architecture.

I wanted to be part of Reiman Gardens’ Internship program because I wanted to get hands-on learning about plants and their characteristics. Not only am I surrounded by different plants and types of gardens, but everyone is always willing to help me out when I ask several questions about the why, what, when, and where about a plant. During this internship, one of my goals is to bring my sketchbook during the plant walks during my internship to help me memorize plants better.

Pictured below is an example from past work from plant walks that I would like to continue this summer. Additionally, a picture of the peonies that are just now in bloom was a great way to start my Monday!