Carpentry, Painting and Stake Work

It was quite frigid outside today and few ventured out for very long. We did, however, have a very productive "interior day." Above are the smaller, 18" diameter culvert pipe planters that stood in the center of the entrance patios near the visitors center this past growing season. While they were maroon in 2010, that color is "so yesterday," hence the conversion to a vivid yellow. We don't follow the color trends, we set them. Rose and Urban have been priming and repainting these and we'll be getting two more of this size for a nice grouping of five (2011 location is top secret). We've had lots of comments on these planters; some positive, some confused ("Are those culvert pipes sticking out of the ground?). The five big ones (24" diameter and 10' tall) will get multiple coats of blue paint and will also be going elsewhere. These are great winter projects and we probably had a good 15 or so people here today doing various tasks. Rose, aside from her culvert work, was here early to put the last coat of yellow on some containers (to the right) and Urban was briefly outside sizing up a return to crabapple (Malus sp.) trimming when it warms up. The yellow containers are structural foam and while very light, work well and are easy to convert in this fashion. They were all beaten up when we received them as a donation three years ago but they lend themselves to our color schemes quite well. The next two photos show the start of our aluminum stake processing project. Dick H. and Dick P. started cutting our 3/4" strap aluminum in to stakes of 15", 20" and 26" respectively. That's 40 down and 1,450 to go.... These will be the new supports for our laser engraver labels. The guys also looked at one of our heaters in the horticulture center that needs some repair. Gary S. had started on the new labels and Jenny E. will be in tomorrow to continue the laborious data entry involved. I'm excited about the improvement in our labels and with Luis O.'s recent progress in re-inventorying our woody plant collection, we should be in good shape to put out thousands of new labels in spring. We'll convert our daylily and fern collections as well. This entire process will take 3-4 years I'm sure.

Maury was here to run errands for everyone and we appreciate his valuable time. Larry worked on various projects and continues to get prepared for the public opening of the Holiday Lights Show on December 17th. Marv and Marianne stopped by for break as did Gary and Rollie. Del worked on some carpentry and Bill O. came in to help Larry this afternoon. We also saw Big John, Rich M. and Sue M. While the carpenters looked like they were heading in to a December lull, they now have plenty of work. Jim, Bob A., Dave and Vern (seen below, left to right) spent the morning working on some rolling raised planters. This falls in line with many of the accessible type planters that they've recently built. I can't say enough about the carpenters as they have been productive this entire year (and those previous) and haven't shirked from any challenges (except that bench with rounded gaps...). I gave them another challenge that will be a very neat addition to the 2011 garden. These new constructs (top secret of course) will also raise some eyebrows, which is the intent all along! Over the years, I've clipped pictures out of magazines and catalogs for items that the guys have no trouble replicating at a fraction of the cost. These gentlemen also repair tables, desks, benches and other RBG items that need their expertise. The raised planters that the guys have been building will be displayed at our spring symposium (see www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org for details) and will also be utilized in the gardens. The two recent planters (adult-sized and child-sized) are quite sturdy (last two pictures) and roll easily. I think these new accessible containers will generate some interest and really do demonstrate that gardening is not just a "ground level, stooping, on your knees" type endeavor. Access can be accomodated for everyone with an interest to get their hands dirty and enjoy plants.