Gardens Cleaning Up Nicely

Larry and I did a nice, thorough tour of the gardens this morning and it wasn't hard to snap a few pictures! Above is the winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) starting to bloom in the hosta garden and gazebo garden. They haven't quite opened up yet but that should happen this week and these will add some nice color by the thousands over the next three weeks. Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis and other species) aren't hard to find in bloom either. The ones to the left were along our woodland walk trail. Larry and I were looking at some additional tree removals, late winter pruning and talking about some of our priorities out in the garden. We also sized up the Japanese garden waterfall area as work on that garden feature will begin very shortly. I did about 50 small projects today but am not complaining as it keeps things from getting too monotonous. I'm trying to keep up with those that are waiting for things from me while getting my own objectives/projects done too. I'm almost done with plant ordering (months late..).

Larry was out in the gardens today and worked on quite a few different projects including yanking some of our last posts that were remnants from the Holiday Lights Show. With potential visitors during this "warm spell", we want to keep the gardens tidy. Nice shot to the left of the bark on the paperbark maple (Acer griseum) in the shade garden. Marianne came in to work on some mailings for our Home Garden Tour and then headed out in to the gardens to work her "tidy up magic." She hasn't lost her touch and does a superb job. Bill was in cleaning up beds as well and this little window of opportunity (before spring rains) has been very advantageous and Bill has accomplished traditional April work early. Dick W. was out in the gardens cutting down more ornamental grasses which is perfect timing before many of the "cool season" grasses emerge in the coming weeks. Urban was out cutting back and pruning roses in the formal gardens. Dr. Gredler and Pat continued painting their cucumber supports and have gone from blue to lime to yellow paint thus far. I think lavender is still left... Needless to say, a lot of the color out in the gardens will be offered by "non-living" garden elements that have been painted some very vivid colors. Too much color!? Hardly!


Gary continued printing out the fern labels that Jenny entered in to our templates. Gary has really done a nice job making this entire process smooth and easy to follow. He'll share his recent knowledge with Jenny (and me) when she returns and we may add another helper or two in to the mix. The only drawback to this entire process is the noise of the engraver, compressor and venting system running as the labels are produced. Gary wisely had ear protection on and I'm thinking about doing the same. The decibel level is between a table saw and a push mower although some might think we're at motorcycle level (maybe not a Harley)....We also saw Jumbo Jim, Deb G., Barb C., Mary D., Mary W. and Bev F. over here for our Earth Day planning committee meeting. We should have a great event and details will be finalized very shortly. We also saw Dick H. and some others today. Our first five butterflies are in and they all look fabulous. Tomorrow, these will go off to be sealed and this program is going to be really neat. Imagine these 34 unique works of art around the gardens. Very cool. Our first semi-load of compost (40 cubic yards) was here waiting for us this morning...