My Catch Up Blog

I'm three days behind on the blog as a result of the weekend and a sick day yesterday. Nice shot above of one of the larger areas we planted as part of our Saturday work day. We had close to 50 total volunteers (including 20 "Workenders") which was not only a planting record but so was the volume of plant material installed. This bed above is part of our chartreuse and pink theme and should fill out nicely. It is certainly a challenge staying ahead of the group! We will be planting throughout this week and have another work day this Saturday that will include the "Workenders" again. It was nice of Marianne to come in and help Janice keep everyone focused while I ran around with plants. I think this Saturday will very similar. Nice shot to the left of Raulston's allspice (Sinocalycalycanthus raulstonii 'Hartlage Wine') blooming at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, WI. We have a small specimen of this plant (what a mouthful) and wondered about its hardiness. I was pretty excited to see it blooming and the June flowers are beautiful. See http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/carauhw.htm for more information on this plant. Another shot from Olbrich is to the right. This is 'Diabolo' ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius 'Mondo') that looks so much better when it matures and arches over with spring blooms. Too many ninebarks are sheared and "molded". What a nice look and their use of foliage shrubs is second to none.


The gang (staff and volunteers) did a great job yesterday and kept busy with looming showers that finally hit with typhoon force in the afternoon. Today we had some great volunteers with Don and Pearl planting most of their area and Shirley helping Janice weed and Jenny plant. Barb was here to help plant as well and Dr. Yahr helped Janice finish our 5th area of the day. Larry worked on pushmowing and unloaded another batch of trees and shrubs. Little Jerry mowed and worked on pruning and tidying up various specimens and areas. Bill and Dr. Gredler were around to help as well and Tom and Nancy came in as well to plant more annuals in the gazebo garden. Barb also helped plant today. We should have two or three groups here to plant tomorrow and we hope the rain holds off for awhile as this combination of cool and damp will create some fungal issues very shortly. Nice plant combo below that I saw at the Delavan, WI Rotary Gardens. Few signs but it's definitely a catmint (Nepeta sp.) and ornamental chives (Allium) of some sort. Nice and showy.