Today was just beautiful with lots of sun, a cool breeze and temperatures in the 40s. The Siberian squill (
Scilla siberica) are starting to bloom strongly this week and are offering some nice drifts of blue throughout the gardens. The shot above was taken today. I love the clear blue of this bulb (there is also a white) and the fact that it's dormant and "disappears" by the end of May. It is also a wonderful component of a "bulb lawn" that features early bulbs that flower up thru the dormant lawn and fade just as it's time to mow the lawn in May. The turf is about 3-4" at this time. However, for those that plant this bulb in their open beds, it does reseed prolifically although the resulting "baby foliage" also goes dormant and the young bulbs will form flowers in a couple years. See below for a nice colony and a shot of this bulb emerging thru turf.
With perfect gardening weather today, the crew kept busy. Fridays are one of our most productive (and crazy) days. Today was no exception. Terry and Bob worked on tidying up beds, spreading compost and removing part of an outdated lighting system. Marv did some shopping and kept busy with stump removal and a multitude of projects. The guys are also putting out and securing our obelisks. Janice and Mary worked on bed clean-up and composting as well while Marianne worked in the shade garden and had prepared for the start of our compost sale tomorrow. Dr. Gredler did some mowing and is keeping busy hauling debris to the dump. I've been doing odds and ends today, mainly in the office. Angie, our new volunteer coordinator, and I took a tour around the gardens to familiarize her with the place. I'm also finishing tree/shrub orders and trying to get our plant lists ready for our website. The City Parks guys came today and burned our prairie and the irrigation guys also finished today after replacing over 50 sprinkler heads (long overdue). We also had a guy replacing damaged bricks and pavers throughout our entrance garden paths/patios. Plenty of action today! Since we're on the topic of Scilla, check out the white variety below and crocus amongst striped squill (
Puschkinia libanotica) at the bottom.
Today was just beautiful with lots of sun, a cool breeze and temperatures in the 40s. The Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) are starting to bloom strongly this week and are offering some nice drifts of blue throughout the gardens. The shot above was taken today. I love the clear blue of this bulb (there is also a white) and the fact that it's dormant and "disappears" by the end of May. It is also a wonderful component of a "bulb lawn" that features early bulbs that flower up thru the dormant lawn and fade just as it's time to mow the lawn in May. The turf is about 3-4" at this time. However, for those that plant this bulb in their open beds, it does reseed prolifically although the resulting "baby foliage" also goes dormant and the young bulbs will form flowers in a couple years. See below for a nice colony and a shot of this bulb emerging thru turf.
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