TGIF (Sort Of) - Another Productive Day

Above is a nice shot of yellow fairy bells (Disporum flavens) taken at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, WI last week. This perennial is from Korea and reaches 30" in height with wonderful spring blooms. Dark berries form in summer and there is a nice yellow fall color as well. This wonderful plant will form a small colony over time. We don't yet have this at Rotary Gardens but count on it for 2009!

Incidentally, in mentioning Olbrich, it's noteworthy to mention all the wonderful botanical resources in this general area. The "must sees" include Olbrich (Madison), Allen Centennial Garden (UW-Madison), UW-Arboretum & Longenecker Gardens (Madison), Foxfire Gardens (Marshfield, WI), Green Bay Botanical Gardens, Anderson Gardens (Rockford, IL), Klehm Arboretum (Rockford), Boerner Botanical Gardens (Hales Corners, WI) and many others I'm sure I'm forgetting. The Chicago area has the Morton Arboretum and Chicago Botanic Garden of course. All of these institutions have wonderful plant collections and a visit is worthwhile and recommended.

'Nugget' ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) to the left. It has wonderful golden, vivid spring foliage. It looks a bit beat up by late summer but is a native North American shrub that is quite durable. There are many varieties of ninebark available. 'Diabolo' is a nice maroon one but can get quite large. Go for 'Summer Wine' for a smaller version of that maroon look. 'Nugget' and 'Dart's Gold' are the most popular golden varieties. I stay away from the green version as it's not too interesting. However, recent crosses between gold and maroon varieties have created 'Coppertina' and 'Center Glow'. I'll try to post some images of these. I love ninebarks but after they get established, we cut them to 12" every winter to encourage fresh new growth.

The title of my blog today refers to the fact that Friday doesn't signal the end of the week this time of year. We got a lot done today; small crew but high productivity ratio as always. Tomorrow is another work day (we'll be planting annuals) and the plant sale continues...!!!