"A Host of Golden Daffodils..."

I took the picture to the left this morning to show a portion of our parking lot islands that display over 300 varieties of daffodils. There are some really neat ones out there. Years ago we planted this collection and called it "Daffodil Daze" and really promoted daffodils as a durable and long-lived bulb option for the garden. We've lost track of most of the varieties but I'm amazed each year when I see the variability. See below to the right for my favorite color combo (clear yellow with red/orange center). Variety unknown. A host of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. William Wordsworth


Overcast and cool today but the rain should hold off until tonite or tomorrow. We've had a busy day thus far. Marv finished creating his "bench pad" and we'll install the new memorial bench shortly. He's out smoothing gravel paths now while Marianne has been working with Margaret all morning with a focus on weeding some areas that need it the most. She'll freshen up the cutting display as well. Shirley H. popped in as well and we put her in a weeding "hot spot" as well. Bob continued digging out some invasive perennials and did a nice job "air-edging" the beds around the koi pond. Larry did our first round of push mowing and has weedwhipped where needed. Dr. Gredler has been mowing and running debris to the dump. We saw Maury, Chuck and Dick H. I fertilized about 2/3 of our lawns in anticipation of the coming rains and will get the rest next week.


This Saturday will be a great workday with a large turnout of Rock Prairie Master Gardeners that will assist with the daylily division. When we did this task years ago, we learned quite a bit about "streamlining" this process and should have a productive morning. Our bagged compost sale has gone well thus far and we'll continue to sell this product every Saturday thru May. We're getting lots of "buzz" regarding our spring sale (May 15-17) and feel confident that we'll have a super turnout (particularly for the heirloom tomato plants). We sold 10,000 tomato plants in 2 hours last year. Nice shots below of grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) en masse and Juno iris (Iris bucharica) in bloom in our shade garden. This tough iris, native to Uzbekistan, Tadijikistan and Afghanistan, is hardy and when it emerges in early spring, the foliage looks like corn! Plant the bulbs (corm-like structures) of this species in October. The blooms are exquisitely beautiful and this plant will go dormant by mid-June.