Very "Spring-like" Today

The weather was great today and we all spent time outside gardening. Nice shot (from yesterday) above of a "bulb lawn" at Pat H.'s home. Note the iris (probably Iris reticulata) and bunching crocus. Pat is one of our volunteers and a very talented home gardener. I walk my dogs by her home and have taken awesome shots of her showy (and inspirational) yard. Why not include some color in your semi-dormant spring lawns before they need to be mown? Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison has an awesome meadow garden full of early bulbs like this that are followed by short meadow grasses. Very low maintenance and showy. To the right is a nice shot of the golden lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta 'Taylor's Sunburst') that has a bit of burn on the outer needles but has a nice golden overtone and is an eyecatcher.

Marv and Terry worked on installing signs, obelisks, stepping stones and other miscellaneous projects. They are great about bouncing around to do the "flavor of the day" projects. Marianne did an awesome job cleaning up part of our gazebo garden that we rarely address. She's hauled out plenty of debris and found time to work on the cutting display as well. Bob and Stacy came in to help out and Dr. Gredler was around as well. Del and Maury popped in for various projects and we look forward to a busy day tomorrow. More plants arrived today. These are for a program called the American Garden Award. We are one of only sixteen gardens in North America that will display plants for this program (which will involve the public voting for their favorites). We have more compost being delivered tomorrow and should have tree and shrub deliveries in the next 2-3 weeks as well. Below is a shot of the feather reed grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Foerster') actively growing. Termed a "cool season" grass for its quick growth and preference for cooler temperatures, this grass will be over 2' tall by the time our warm season grasses emerge in mid to late May. Now would be the time to divide and transplant this grass. See image at the bottom for what this grass will look like by mid-summer (note 'Tiger Eyes' sumac behind the grass). This is a great variety for a tough, upright, vertical specimen.