Wishful Thinking Will Net Results

Today was our first Saturday work day of the season. We had five people help with some indoor dividing and potting of bearded iris (Iris germanica). A typical work day might have two dozen volunteers but we were happy with even this modest turn out considering the cold and wet weather. The 500 or so iris divisions that were potted up today will be part of our spring sale on May 17th. It was time well spent, although admittedly, not the best time of year to dig up and divide irises. I remember an early April work day from years ago that involved us planting trees thru three inches of snow. The first image here is of a crabapple blooming last May but if you look closely, you'll see our arched bridge in the distance. This shot was taken by Santos McGill, a frequent visitor with a great talent for photography. He's been very generous when sharing interesting or rare shots such as this one. This crabapple doesn't bloom for awhile but will certainly signal a transition to warmer summer months on the way.

We had 210 cubic yards of shredded bark arrive in three loads over the past two days. The semi almost got stuck in the muddy morass of our back yard area but managed to dump all three loads successfully. We'll start spreading this shredded bark as it dries out and we can both access the piles and drive thru the garden without tearing up the saturated turf. We typically put another 1" topdressing of this material over existing areas of the same material as it does break down over time and requires refreshing. We'll use rougher, larger woodchips (donated) in more peripheral areas or those with just trees and shrubs. Regardless, we're stockpiling materials for spring use once the weather is more conducive to those activities. I'm looking outside at light flurries as I type so hopefully next week will be our target week to really get out there and achieve some "momentum". Summer teaser image below. This image is from our red/maroon collection last year and hopefully relays the importance of every volunteer at Rotary Gardens!