Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Spring Showers

Above is one of our ferns "unfurling" in the fern & moss garden. There are signs of fresh growth everywhere. Unfortunately, that includes the weeds which I'm sure enjoyed the full day of rain. We had 15 minutes of sunshine and wide variability in precipitation. Despite being inside all day, we accomplished plenty of projects. Janice went out briefly to record some plant label notes but was chased inside by more rain. Janice worked on some research and helped pot up some new annuals (see to the right) that were sent by Ball Seed and will be part of our trials/evaluations. Big John helped pot up these plants but also spent some significant time processing more trees (see to the left) for our extended tree sale. We're advertising heavily for the extended sale on April 29th and 30th (8 am - 2 pm each day) and trees (3,500 remaining) are all $1.25 each (marked down from $1,75). John also went on a record gas run (a record expense $ that is, UGH!!!). Larry did a nice job consolidating and hauling out many of our plants and organizing the yard (between raindrops) to be prepared for our upcoming spring plant sale (see our website). We ultimately lack space this time of year. We're still looking for volunteers to help with this busy weekend (May 13,14,15) and look forward to another successful fundraiser. Jenny worked on entering more label info for the new engraver and created labels (the "old-fashioned" kind) for our new annuals that arrived today. We do try to have labels with the plants as they head out in to the gardens to be planted but sometimes it's easier said than done! Thanks to Jenny for being so proactive and organized. We had a photographer (Terry) here today taking some shots for one of the local papers (Messenger). We missed the rain and I took the shot of our picturesque arched bridge below. Maury was here for a bit working on some projects and is helping organize our extended tree sale this weekend. We also saw Mary W., Deb G., Sue T., Hal and Bill here today. With chances of rain thru the rest of the week, we are prepared for more indoor projects but really (and obviously!) prefer to be outside. April rains are fine but let's break it up with some sunshine and temperatures in the upper 60 degrees F!



I worked on myriad projects and continue to be involved with education, fundraising and volunteer duties but we all wear many hats around here. Last night the Janesville City Council proclaimed May 6th as "Rotary Botanical Gardens Day". This coincides (no coincidence) with National Public Gardens Day which is promoted as a partnership between the American Public Garden Association (APGA) and Better Homes & Gardens. There are other sponsors as well but the intent is to essentially promote and stress the value of public gardens in our society. 128 public gardens, including RBG, are offering free admittance with a pass that can be downloaded from the BH&G website. It was nice to see that Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Boerner Botanical Gardens and Green Bay Botanical Gardens are also part of this program. Our Executive Director, Kelli, did a nice job getting us involved and we hope to see a nice influx of visitors next Friday, May 6th, to enjoy the gardens. Nice shot to the left of one of the white hyacinths (Hyacinthus) and tulips (Tulipa) to the right that were photographed during the very brief interlude of sunshine we received today. Pop question. What do 300 'Brazen Brass' mustards (Brassica juncea) look like? See below. Come to the gardens soon to see their use. The bottom photo is an awesome example (local) of a bulb lawn that I photograph every spring. Look at all those goodies just a bit past peak. Most people don't consider tulips (Tulipa) or small daffodils (Narcissus) as part of their "bulb lawn palette" but they sure work. The trick is timing the mowing which may necessitate a weed whippin' prior to mowing if the grass really gets going. The bulb foliage should be left as long as possible.

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