Today was the rare day that I did not take any pictures. The assortment of pictures in this blog is a "hodge podge" but were taken over the last three days. I had a three hour presentation up in Fond du Lac, WI on "
Plants for Horticulture Therapy" which was the same one I did at Milwaukee and Kenosha earlier. I spoke to a group of 40 or so at the UW-Fond du Lac campus (nice campus) which I've visited a dozen times before for similar presentations. I was running a bit late and arrived right at 9 am (my start time) and as I got set up, the building fire alarm went off and we
all had to stand outside (33 degrees F) for 20 minutes until they determined it was a false alarm. The talk went well and it was a great group. I'll present in the same location in early April of next year and will talk about "ornamental edibles" for the annual spring symposium held there each April. Nice shot above of some of the rope lighting that Randy has been using to rejuvenate our displays. Randy has donated hundreds of feet of this style of lighting which lends itself to being secured to the displays. He's a wizard with not only fabricating the actual displays but does a nice job with the lights. He'll finish up three more displays this Saturday and will be bringing back those he took home over the last couple of days. The combination to the right is the cranesbill geranium (
Geranium sanguineum) spilling thru some pinks (
Dianthus sp.) in the alpine garden. Dianthus will hold leaves late in the season and that blue is quite evident, even from a distance. To the left is one of many ornate Japanese lanterns that we have near the Japanese garden. Below is the billowing seedhead of a goldenrod (
Solidago sp.) in our English cottage garden. Seed heads can certainly be an ornamental asset as well.
Larry held down the fort today and helped bring in displays for Randy's Saturday "mending" and helped the Grumpies with many of their projects. The Holiday Lights Show is essentially up and ready although I
need to run the last of the cords which should only take an hour or two. We'll fire the entire show up on Monday, make corrections and examine it at night. We like to have some test nights to make sure all is well and plant adjustments accordingly. The biggest factor in keeping the lights on is not so much our power issues but the weather (no rain dances please). The premiere lighting of the show is as part of the Taste of Chocolate event on December 4th at RBG (for details, look under the "Events" pull down menu at
http://www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org/). Janice came in this morning to work with our "Grumpettes" although no one came in to garden. However, some of the ladies were at the other building helping with a huge mailin
g project. Janice also had her Thursday volunteers in for a tour of the Horiculture Center. Bill O. was in to collect debris out in the last remaining pockets of resistance in the gardens and Dr. Gredler did some leaf collection and dump runs as well. Marianne was in this morning (as a volunteer) to lay out some greens in the gardens to protect some bulb plantings that get trampled over the winter in front of the building. We're trying to essentially avoid compacted soil. To the right is a cardinal that is part of one of our art pieces out in the gardens (created by Brady Lueck). We had a small Grumpy turnout as the weather was quite cold. Pat and Bob C. worked on some paths while Maury and Rollie continued some work on the deer fencing which will become very important once we get some snow. Dave, Jim, Bob A. and Vern worked on some carpentry projects and tidied up their carpentr
y area as well. To the left is the increasingly yellow needles of the 'Hillside Winter Gold' white pine (
Pinus strobus). "Chartreusy" in summer, this conifer becomes more gold as the winter progresses and has peak color by March or so. We have a small specimen (8') but it will be nice to see it gain size over the coming years. I hope the deer stay away from it as they are not shy about getting back at us for blockading the arborvitae (
Thuja occidentalis) by nibbling on pines (
Pinus) but occasion
ally spruce (
Picea), fir (
Abies) and even junipers (
Juniperus) too. Aside from our posts and snow fence protection, we'll look at some other options including about 600 cubic yards of burlap that will help protect some of the smaller delicacies. To the left are the leaves of the native rattlesnake master (
Eryngium yuccifolium) with some morning moisture. This carrot relative has beautiful flowers as well and has plenty of architectural merit. To the right is another surprising fall color on a shrub that I don't observe often enough. To the right is the 'Blue Velvet' St. John's Wort (
Hypericum kalmianum) which is a nice compact shrub (3'x3') for our area. This variety is known for aromatic blue foliage and yellow summer blooms. This species of St. John's Wort naturally has bluish foliage but this variety has very blue leaves. Well, now I've noticed a nice maroon/red fall color. Neat. Do look up this species (and perhaps variety) to see the neat summer flowers on a very low-maintenance shrub. We have maybe a dozen
Hypericum in the gardens and they all look great. Below is the Appalachian sedge (
Carex appalachica) that is native to the dry woodlands of Eastern North America. This fine textured sedge is a nice clumper and tough as nails. The bottom photo shows Marv and Terry from yesterday, securing our train display which had sat dormant and in disrepair until it was resurrected by Randy. Tomorrow I'll be part of some filming that will be focused on promoting our lights displays.
Today was the rare day that I did not take any pictures. The assortment of pictures in this blog is a "hodge podge" but were taken over the last three days. I had a three hour presentation up in Fond du Lac, WI on "
Plants for Horticulture Therapy" which was the same one I did at Milwaukee and Kenosha earlier. I spoke to a group of 40 or so at the UW-Fond du Lac campus (nice campus) which I've visited a dozen times before for similar presentations. I was running a bit late and arrived right at 9 am (my start time) and as I got set up, the building fire alarm went off and we
all had to stand outside (33 degrees F) for 20 minutes until they determined it was a false alarm. The talk went well and it was a great group. I'll present in the same location in early April of next year and will talk about "ornamental edibles" for the annual spring symposium held there each April. Nice shot above of some of the rope lighting that Randy has been using to rejuvenate our displays. Randy has donated hundreds of feet of this style of lighting which lends itself to being secured to the displays. He's a wizard with not only fabricating the actual displays but does a nice job with the lights. He'll finish up three more displays this Saturday and will be bringing back those he took home over the last couple of days. The combination to the right is the cranesbill geranium (Geranium sanguineum) spilling thru some pinks (Dianthus sp.) in the alpine garden. Dianthus will hold leaves late in the season and that blue is quite evident, even from a distance. To the left is one of many ornate Japanese lanterns that we have near the Japanese garden. Below is the billowing seedhead of a goldenrod (Solidago sp.) in our English cottage garden. Seed heads can certainly be an ornamental asset as well.
need to run the last of the cords which should only take an hour or two. We'll fire the entire show up on Monday, make corrections and examine it at night. We like to have some test nights to make sure all is well and plant adjustments accordingly. The biggest factor in keeping the lights on is not so much our power issues but the weather (no rain dances please). The premiere lighting of the show is as part of the Taste of Chocolate event on December 4th at RBG (for details, look under the "Events" pull down menu at http://www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org/). Janice came in this morning to work with our "Grumpettes" although no one came in to garden. However, some of the ladies were at the other building helping with a huge mailin
g project. Janice also had her Thursday volunteers in for a tour of the Horiculture Center. Bill O. was in to collect debris out in the last remaining pockets of resistance in the gardens and Dr. Gredler did some leaf collection and dump runs as well. Marianne was in this morning (as a volunteer) to lay out some greens in the gardens to protect some bulb plantings that get trampled over the winter in front of the building. We're trying to essentially avoid compacted soil. To the right is a cardinal that is part of one of our art pieces out in the gardens (created by Brady Lueck). We had a small Grumpy turnout as the weather was quite cold. Pat and Bob C. worked on some paths while Maury and Rollie continued some work on the deer fencing which will become very important once we get some snow. Dave, Jim, Bob A. and Vern worked on some carpentry projects and tidied up their carpentr
y area as well. To the left is the increasingly yellow needles of the 'Hillside Winter Gold' white pine (Pinus strobus). "Chartreusy" in summer, this conifer becomes more gold as the winter progresses and has peak color by March or so. We have a small specimen (8') but it will be nice to see it gain size over the coming years. I hope the deer stay away from it as they are not shy about getting back at us for blockading the arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) by nibbling on pines (Pinus) but occasion
ally spruce (Picea), fir (Abies) and even junipers (Juniperus) too. Aside from our posts and snow fence protection, we'll look at some other options including about 600 cubic yards of burlap that will help protect some of the smaller delicacies. To the left are the leaves of the native rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) with some morning moisture. This carrot relative has beautiful flowers as well and has plenty of architectural merit. To the right is another surprising fall color on a shrub that I don't observe often enough. To the right is the 'Blue Velvet' St. John's Wort (Hypericum kalmianum) which is a nice compact shrub (3'x3') for our area. This variety is known for aromatic blue foliage and yellow summer blooms. This species of St. John's Wort naturally has bluish foliage but this variety has very blue leaves. Well, now I've noticed a nice maroon/red fall color. Neat. Do look up this species (and perhaps variety) to see the neat summer flowers on a very low-maintenance shrub. We have maybe a dozen Hypericum in the gardens and they all look great. Below is the Appalachian sedge (Carex appalachica) that is native to the dry woodlands of Eastern North America. This fine textured sedge is a nice clumper and tough as nails. The bottom photo shows Marv and Terry from yesterday, securing our train display which had sat dormant and in disrepair until it was resurrected by Randy. Tomorrow I'll be part of some filming that will be focused on promoting our lights displays.
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