Tuesday, April 1, 2008

A Contagious Spring!

Today was a nice day despite the cold start in the morning. Tuesdays are typically a bit light with both grounds staff and volunteers. However, we had five grounds people and about a dozen volunteers wandered in for various duties such as grass cutting, painting, spring clean-up, label making, etc. It always amazes me how much the volunteers accomplish. We have such a dedicated group, all with their own interests, talents and unique personalities. Rotary Gardens truly has a family atmosphere with everyone interested in promoting and preserving the quality of the gardens. While we've fallen in to some routines, the "group effort" approach has served as well in so many ways. Our talented carpenters have created more obelisks (vining structures) for the gardens. They have been painted in some cases to tie in to a color theme or other design intent as it relates to their final location. Years ago we had just three six foot tall obelisks. Now we have over 30 that run the gamut in heights (4', 6', 7', and 9'). In most cases we'll train an annnual vine up these for vertical interest and blooms. However, we've also placed these obelisks with no intent on vines. They are simply architectural elements in the garden and/or focal points. Look for orange and blue obelisks around our visitors' center and main parking lot this year. With more rain on the way, we wonder about increased flooding issues. We'll have our irrigation system turned on next week, which can be a monumental task. During dry springs, we'll run our system but don't feel so inclined this spring with such saturated soils. Regardless, it wont be long before things dry out and we're dragging our 3,000 feet of hoses around the gardens. Some things never change.

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