Photo Contest Materializing...

The photo above, while obviously not taken today, was taken on a day with very similar temperatures in April! The high today was 55 degrees F which isn't too unlike our April weather where you would see this redbud (Cercis canadensis) blooming near the observation pier (note the arched bridge in the distance). The photo above was also one that was included in one of our past RBG calendars. We've done RBG calendars for three years in the past and they continue to become more popular and are a nice item to sell in our Cottage Garden Gifts (gift shop) at the Parker Education Center. I've supplied the bulk of the photos for our calendars in the past but we're now formulating final details for an amateur photography contest that will be offered very soon that will allow participants to submit their favorite RBG photos for inclusion in the 2013 RBG calendar. I'm really excited about this and thank our committee (Tina, Kris, Bill, Lisa and Sue) for finalizing details (which will be announced in about three weeks). The warm weather brought in all sorts of volunteers today including Jumbo Jim to the left who was selecting donated seed (thanks Ferry Morse and Doreen!) for the Rock County Farm. Jim also facilitates the RECAPPER efforts at the gardens and is actively involved in myriad gardening projects. To the right is "Sawdust Larry" who has been running the chainsaw for two solid days to deal with some target removals. He, Dick W. and Bill O. were out hauling back debris from these removals and our winter brush pile is getting larger by the hour.

Urban was out in the gardens pruning in the woodland walk garden this morning. Maury was in to put another coat on his yellow pvc pipe planters (left) and only has three left to paint (green). Dr. Gredler continued his obelisk painting and we had some nice help from Rose (and later Urban) with painting our big blue pyramids a lighter shade of blue. The bottom blog photo shows Larry and Bill bringing one of the three pyramids in this morning. To the lower right is Rose inside one of the pyramids with the start of the conversion. We offered to pass her bread and water in her confinement but also told her she couldn't leave until she was done with the inside of that one! Dick H. was in working on some vehicles and other projects. Today we were happy to find a buyer for our older pick-up truck. We also saw Gary, Mary W., Kay F. and others today. Janice was in for a good portion of the morning working on the information sheets for our plant sale offerings. I'm down to finding a couple bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) varieties and selecting herbs and our plant sale orders will then be complete. The seed orders are arriving daily with five deliveries just today! I also worked on some spreadsheets, small projects and had a nice lunch with Kelli (recent RBG Exec. Director), who is enjoying her new job at Blackhawk Technical College. Tomorrow I'm going out in the gardens to look for winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) and snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) blooming as I think we may be getting close for these early bulbs that we don't normally see until mid-March.