Close To 100 Volunteers Here Today!

It was another fun and crazy day at the gardens. The pictures in this blog will attest to the wonderful volunteer efforts that happened in the gardens today. Above is a shot of the Grumpies at break (which seems to last longer with each passing year...). Our primary efforts today involved planting, edging, tidying the iris beds (the first batch of American Iris Society conference attendees arrives tomorrow at 8 am!) and continuing with preparing beds for planting. The Grumpies worked on composting, woodchipping, removing bulb foliage. Thanks to Ron W., Big John, Ron B., Pat, Roger, Gary, Jim, Maury, Dick H., Dr. Gredler, Dr. Yahr, Bob T., Bob C. and anyone I forgot. The carpenters continue their talented work on our new desk with fancy drawers. When those four heads below (Bob A., Jim D., Dave & Vern, left to right) get together, look out.Little Jerry worked on pruning and his rock wall project while Jenny was here leading volunteers with our iris bed tidying project. She had Marilyn, Glenna, Nancy, Tom and Hal working on bed clean-up and we had Suzy in another spot weeding. Jenny later helped with label work, watering and helping me facilitate the Bower City Garden Club ladies that planted over 2,000 plants along our "Ornamental Edible" wall bed (see below). They did a great job and even had time to do some weeding. We also had Art, Bev, Jumbo Jim and four RECAPPERS here helping as well. Sue M. and Kelley F. did a nice job clearing out the remainder of their shade garden section and planted another 200 or so colorful annuals. It was a monumental group effort and much appreciated. Larry mowed, watered and kept up with the various groups. Marianne was here too (off the clock) and thankfully dealt with making over 600 copies of our iris lists for our incoming guests and my presentation for the peony people on Saturday. This morning we had a group of 29 seventh graders from St. Paul's (Janesville) along with their teacher and six adults. They had an hour of volunteer time at the gardens and did a superb job planting about 1500 annuals near our visitors center. Thanks to Ron W. and Big John for helping out. While their skill levels and experience varied, they were all committed to doing a good job and we appreciate their efforts. Many of the kids had been to the gardens before but none had planted here. I encouraged them to visit in summer to see their plants. This connection to the gardens (and the environment) is so important and hopefully this experience will be remembered in a positive way (despite the yucky worms, mud and other distractions).

17 Grumpies + 3 Grumpettes + 4 RECAPPERS + 36 St. Paul's volunteers + 20 Bower City Garden Club ladies + all the other "odds and ends" volunteers = 100 volunteers, not including the gift shop ladies and others at the Parker Education Center. Perhaps a record...