March Showers Bring April Flowers

It is pounding rain right now and I'm so glad I cleaned my garden at home this past weekend. We're also fortunate that we've done so much in the gardens here as rainy days, while good for the garden, are lost days outside. We have more concerns about flooding but are helpless to prevent rising water levels obviously. Awesome picture above from Bill Olmsted of the Janesville Gazette. This shot really does justice to the Danford irises (Iris danfordiae) that we have around the gardens blooming by the hundreds if not thousands. This image was on the front page of the Gazette last week. I think I need a better camera for close-ups but we're fortunate to have Bill and others snapping away around the gardens. Another 65-70 degree day should really push things along out in the gardens as I see hellebores, pulmonarias and many early spring bulbs peeking out and deciding if "it's time" to burst on to the scene. Note more crocusus emerging to the left. The bunnies will get them very shortly. We don't plant crocus anymore as about 80% are nibbled before they bloom. Spring is always such an amazing (and busy!) time out in the garden.

Larry's working on getting the mowers ready for spring and Dr. Gredler is here painting. It wont be long and we'll be in full swing with the grounds staff starting next week. With Little Jerry down with a broken arm, we'll have Jenny helping outside as well. Aside from her labeling talents, she's quite a gardener with a great attention to detail. She'll be doing lots of planting with volunteers along with Janice and Marianne. We also have an intern (Bob) for 6 weeks who will help with odds and ends. Unfortunately some of our older volunteers are unable to help this year and while we appreciate everything they have done over the years, we sure wish they were still active volunteers and their absence will be felt immediately. These are volunteers that required very little assistance and were self-motivated and extremely dependable. Father Time catches up to all of us eventually!


Note the stack of bean towers to the right. Our Grumpy carpenters built 50 of these 10' tall towers for our heirloom pole and runner beans. Half will stay here and the other half will go out to the Rock County Farm. These sturdy structures will support various vegetables over the years and we look forward to promoting vertical gardening and featuring some neat veggies and climbers in the future. The carpenters are amazing and have built everything they've been asked, including some very elaborate benches and other items. See below for the strength of daffodils (Narcissus) poking up thru and lifting the woodchips. A couple of weeks and these will be blooming. We actually have close to 400 varieties of daffodils representing all 13 divisions (or types).