Containers, Etc.

Our container workshop today was a total blast. We had 15 attendees and I think everyone enjoyed the opportunity to assemble their own creation with the help of Becky and myself. I was surprised to see drizzle this morning which really persisted all day with variable levels of intensity. It was fortuitous that we had our plant sale tents still up as we were able to fit everyone comfortably underneath and the morning went well. Janice and Kris both helped (informally) to facilitate as it was a good sized group, which included a young girl (12?) with her mom. The perk for this workshop was that participants could go thru and select from our vast assortment of plants for the gardens and really come up with some neat combos (see example to the right). The top picture is of Kris' combination for shade and a couple participants paid extra to do some additional containers. Kris can be seen to the left and her former career as a finger model was evident with this pose. I'm sure we'll offer this opportunity in the future and hopefully encourage more participants. Becky did a nice job discussing soil mixes, drainage, container selection, design ideas, etc. To the right is Janice who has a natural eye for good combinations; not necessarily with her wardrobe but certainly with plant combinations.

While I was involved with the container workshop, Marianne did a nice job organizing and packing away our plant sale supplies, signs, etc. and she later moved on to tidying up the front entrance garden which has missed her attentiveness due to the obligations of the plant sale. Marianne and I later ran out for a load of plants which I'll mention later. Marv, Terry, Big John and Pat helped move plant sale remnants out of the way for our container class and moved on to other tasks. John hauled back a trailer and did a lot of rototilling. He does a darn nice job and immediately applied some pre-emergent herbicides to keep our ever present weed seeds from germinating after being stirred up. John later went and helped Marv and Terry with their project. Pat worked on mulching some trees, some air edging and also assisted with some other projects. This is Pat's second week (as a groundsperson) and he's doing quite well. We haven't broken him yet (not for lack of trying). Marv and Terry addressed some newly seeded (turf) areas and spent the rest of the day on the North Point garden with a rototiller and lots of boxwoods (see below). With the bluestone patio complete, the guys loosened up the soil and did a manual grading away fromt the patio. They then trenched and planted a whole lot of boxwoods (Buxus 'Green Velvet') that will define some narrow planting beds immediately adjacent to the arbor and patio. Our intent is to fill these spaces each year with colorful bulbs and annuals with a focus on scent. We hope to continue progress in this space daily and have looming irrigation and electrical service installation as well. This space, while small, has a view second to none and should be a popular spot. I've modified my design a bit as is always the case, the space is smaller in "reality" than it always looks on paper! Marv and Terry caught one of my layout errors this morning which I appreciate although I'm sure I shattered their belief that I never make mistakes....Kay and Margaret were here today and did an amazing job weeding our front entrance slope garden. Yesterday I was amazed by the weeds out in that space and was glad to throw some of our best weeders at this challenge. Dick P. and Dick H. came in to fix the 'Dancing Waters' fountain which was spurting in a weird way. Dick P. brought his boat and they took care of business. We also saw Vern and many others over here too. We kept our yard closed as there are still many "pop in" visitors that are interested in purchasing plants. The image above is from Seasonal Splendors Greenhouse (Madison) where Marianne and I headed this afternoon. We picked up some cool plants from Kathy whom I've known for many years. Her greenhouse has all sorts of neat things in it aside from unique plants. Her containers are also very colorful (see to the left) and I walked away with more than one idea. See how the green margin on that coleus (Solenostemon) matches the container. Effective subtlety! It was nice for Marianne and I to get away for a road trip as we're still recovering from a mild case of "plant sale burnout."

To the above right is an unexpected result of placing our new pyramids in the entrance garden. This might be the first blog to feature bird poop but I noticed all of our blue "pyramids" are suffering from this unwanted attention. Oh well. To the right is one of my deck planters with a nice batch of lettuce (Lactuca sp.) filling in well. My daughter is excited about this quick growth (seed sown 25 days ago on Easter Sunday). I'm ashamed to admit that I've not sown and eaten my own lettuce ever and look forward to it soon. Directly below are the blooms of the blue, spring starflower (Ipheion 'Rolf Fielder') that we planted last fall. These little clumps are offering a nice blue in a landscape that really lacks blue in the spring without some "bulbous assistance". We planted about 5,000 of these small bulbs last fall and hope they perennialize well.

Last night was our volunteer potluck and I though it went very well. We had well over 100 attendees and both Kelli and Lori had some great comments for the group. The food was great and it was nice to see not only so many volunteers, but volunteers meeting others that they may not normally encounter. It was a cozy, "family feel" and Sue M. took a group picture of the gang out in the English cottage garden. I think this is the first picture of its kind with so many volunteers in one place. This was only about 1/4 of our overall volunteers and many were missed due to other commitments, etc. I did my presentation which included some historical shots of the gardens in development and some of our earlier volunteers that were so instrumental in helping form and shape the gardens. I wasn't boo'ed off the stage so that's always good. Crazy days ahead.