Thursday, April 22, 2010

Another Busy Day Around Here

The redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are looking nice out in the gardens and will peak this weekend. The specimen above is one of our best at 25' tall and is located in the Japanese garden (all three photos). The flowers are exquisite when viewed up close and we also have the weeping form, white-blooming variety and some specialty varieties as well scattered here and there. The weather was downright chilly this morning at 34 degrees F and some of us had frosted windshields. We had brought in all our tender plants last night and I'm glad we did. While it took awhile to warm up out in the gardens, it was a lovely day with plenty of active volunteers, grounds staff and vivid colors out in the gardens. It was nice having Jan (to the left) back in action in the Scottish garden and we talked about some weed control tactics in this popular garden. Jan has done a wonderful job in the garden for well over 12 years and we're fortunate to have her helping out. Mary D. was here to help weed and Janice's volunteer group came and helped weed today as well. Little Jerry kept busy with pruning and clean-up while Larry was again involved with many projects including bringing back our terrace furniture, picking up supplies and running the last of our daisy art pieces to be seal coated. Janice kept busy with weeding and we had Bill in the afternoon composting and spreading soil. Doug and Gary hauled mulch out to the main parking lot and we had Bill, Jim (new Grumpy), Del and Ron spreading mulch near our east entrance. Bob C. and Roger did a nice job composting and Big John, Dick P. and Dick H. worked on the 'Dialogue' area after helping with the furniture moving. Rollie helped haul furniture and ran the endloader to keep up with our material hauling priorities today. Dr. Gredler mulched and mowed and the the carpenter quartet (Vern, Jim D., Bob A. and Dave) continued to put up the new arbor (see below). We also saw Mark M., Geesje, Bill O., Richard and John P. today. It was truly crazy but it was a good rhythm and much was accomplished. The Ice Age Trail Alliance was here today for their conference and will be around until Sunday. What a great organization for an important state resource and amenity.Yellow is well-represented out in the gardens today with the flowers of 'Yellow Lantern' magnolia below (featured in an earlier blog) and golden bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Goldheart') foliage (do you like the pink with gold?). Further below, note the vivid, emerging foliage of golden boxelder (Acer negundo 'Kelley's Gold'), yes a boxelder!, and variegated Norway maple (Acer platanoides 'Drummondii') respectively.

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