Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Looming Symposium

Above are our colorful cucumber supports laying on end although they would work fine just like this too (spaced out a bit of course)! Dr. Gredler and Pat did a nice job painting these and while their color contribution lessens as the cucumbers engulf them, they should be eyecatching thru the spring at least. Below are our "Leaning Pyramids of RBG" that will find a nice location very shortly....and be part of our 2011 yellow and blue theme. They will have vines with yellow foliage climbing up them during the course of the summer so we'll see these blue pyramids turn to yellow (in theory...). The sky blue culvert pipes in the far distance are another story.
Today was quite busy and we saw many faces over at the Horticulture Center. Larry worked some more on equipment and he and Bill organized some items out in the yard. Dr. Gredler was in briefly and we also had visits from Jason, Mary W., Bev, Urban, Judy, Dick H., Dave G. and Maury. Gary and Jenny were here working on labels all afternoon and were training our "newbie" label technician, Mandy. Janice was in to start making the name cutouts for our symposium lanyards and will finish that project tomorrow with Marianne. I had a productive meeting with Sue, our marketing guru, regarding upcoming programs, events, etc. and we came up with some good plans for timely promotions. Below is the first of our large loads of shredded bark that has arrived (to the right, compost to the left). It's currently damp and heavy but will go in to use yet this month in all liklihood.
I haven't mentioned my recent travels. I was in Pardeeville, WI on Monday night to speak to their local garden club ("Fantastic Foliage") and had a very nice time. Pardeville is known as the "City of Lakes" and is situated nicely around some nice bodies of water. I was told that Pardeville is also known for a summer watermelon festival that includes a seed spitting contest. I could be a real competitor... Last night I was at Olbrich up in Madison talking about "Durable Groundcovers". I had another nice crowd and we had some great discussions and heard about some interesting personal experiences regarding some of the groundcovers I was showing. The bikes above were at Olbrich as was the neat windmill element featured at the bottom. It was pouring rain when I arrived (early) and I had previous delusions about going thru the gardens quickly as there was still some light outside. The vistors center was decorated with orchids (above left) and they were selling cinerarias (to the right) in a wide range of colors. The blues are always impressive and would be my favorite. Tomorrow will be more preparation for the symposium this Saturday. For those in driving distance, there is still room for the Friday night "Meet & Greet" held at BASICS in Janesville (6 pm - 8 pm) that will feature all sorts of snacks and a nice talk by Doreen Howard on heirloom vegetables. Contact me at (608) 754-1779 if interested. We also have room for our April 9th mosaic birdhouse workshop....

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