March Rain

I was only in the office for a couple hours today as I had meetings throughout the day including one in Madison. The weather this morning was quite pleasant and the daytime temperatures continue to be well above normal. The threat of rain today did materialize throughout the morning hours and was welcome precipitation. When I arrived at work this morning, the pile of blended mushroom compost (directly above) had already been delivered and unloaded. We've had the same delivery guy for 15 years and he knows the routine. Once the Grumpies start tackling this 40 cubic yard load, it will disappear quickly. To the right are the blooms of the red maple (Acer rubrum) and most of our maples are also blooming out in the gardens with leaves to follow shortly. What really scares me are the magnolias that are, of course starting to bloom early and should be peaking by the end of the week. To the left is one of our magnolias (unknown variety) on the west side of the building. Almost all our specimens are showing color with the buds cracking open for this "late Aprilish" weather. Technically, we still have 7.5 weeks of potential frost so the early magnolia blooms wont stand a chance if/when we get a significant frost. Enjoy them while you can!

We had a nice turnout of Grumpies this morning. Bob A. and Jim (top photo) continued the production of the new obelisks and were later joined by Dave. Dennis, Dick W., Ron and many others started removing all the fencing, netting, burlap, etc. that was used for deer protection. We decided not to smother everything and feel we've passed the window of the most significant browsing (usually during a tough February). Pat and Urban were in to continue some pruning efforts and helped out in the gardens as well. Ron W. was back in action to help in the gardens and ran a timely road trip for me to pick up materials for our looming spring symposium (this Saturday). Marianne was in to finish some plant sale related tasks and headed out in the gardens for some needed sign straightening. Dick H. ran some more loads to the dump and Dr. Gredler started aerating the lawns. Marv and Terry worked on painting some of our smaller (18" diameter) culvert pipe planters (silver as seen to the right).

I had a meeting this morning regarding some more refined graphic definition and representation of the Wellness Garden and we'll see some exciting new plans in the coming weeks that will help with promoting this garden and ultimately with fundraising efforts. I then headed to Madison for a lunch meeting with Shelley Ryan, host/producer of The Wisconsin Gardener on WI Public Television (WPT). At the WPT Garden Expo this year, one of the presentations featured Shelley and her prominent role in providing her show for over 20 years. We talked a lot about RBG collections this year and hope she'll be back to do some filming. She also has to solicit sponsors for her shows and is no stranger to fundraising. She is truly a remarkable woman and has done more for exposing RBG to a wider audience than anyone in our 23 history. I believe she's filmed 14 segments at the gardens over the years. It was nice to see her as always. Our waitress gushed about her show and asked us some questions about hollies! I arrived in Madison about 30 minutes early for lunch so took a quick jaunt thru Olbrich Botanical Gardens (www.olbrich.org/) in a medium intensity drizzle. The forsythias (above) along Atwood Avenue caught my eye before I even pulled in and it didn't take too long to confirm how far ahead that garden is in terms of spring blooms too. Directly below is the white forsythia (Abeliophyllum distichum) in full, fragrant bloom. We don't have this species at RBG and I was impressed with the flower show and fragrance. This shrub isn't very noteworthy after blooming but it sure stood out in a nice cluster of three shrubs with a dark back drop. The second photo down shows a very small portion of their meadow garden that includes thousands of early bulbs that offer color before the short meadow grasses fill in by late spring. Despite the persistent drizzle, I enjoyed my walk around the gardens and noted some of their spring clean-up efforts going on throughout many areas. They still have plenty of ornamental grasses to cut back but they are still looking good (see bottom photo). Most of the larger grasses are warm season grasses and wont sprout quite yet. However, the earlier emerging "cool season" grasses are growing quickly and should be addressed if you haven't done so all ready. Olbrich is truly a four seasons garden with plenty of winter interest as well. I was impressed with the early bulb display today which I frequently miss as I'm busy back in Janesville. To the right is the 'Red Mountain' hellebore (Helleborus) blooming strongly and I noted dozens of mature hellebore specimens with a wide range of colors. The corneliancherry dogwoods (Cornus mas) were in full bloom as they are in Janesville. Despite Madison being north of Janesville, it has a milder winter climate due to proximity to the lakes. I've seen various established plants at Olbrich that haven't done well for us as "borderline" plants. The image to the left is of the blooms of the Japanese cornel dogwood (Cornus officinalis) which is quite similar to the corneliancherry dogwoods. I was walking by this specimen and assumed it to be a corneliancherry dogwood until I read the sign. This small tree is quite beautiful and I'll be back to check on it for ornamental red drupes (fruit) and hopefully a nice reddish/purple fall color. Most of the magnolias at Olbrich were showing flower color too which is very concerning as these will all be in bloom in the next week or so. Frost will not treat these blooms lightly if it occurs although the plant shouldn't be damaged. The variety to the right is 'Leonard Messel' (Magnolia x loebneri). We have two of these at RBG which I'll check on them tomorrow. With our spring symposium, Create an Engaging Garden, coming up this Saturday, I have lots of things to finish up and address for this event and for focusing our outdoor efforts in our astonishingly progressed garden. We'll have to get the volunteers back earlier and focus efforts on the last of the clean-up and jump right in to "spring".