Roof Work

Today was another nice "May" day with highs near 70 degrees F. I've been contacted by our local paper, radio station and WI Public Radio regarding this heat wave and what it means for the gardens. While I am concerned about all the recent growth out in the gardens, there is little we can do but enjoy the weather for now and get an early jump on our spring clean-up efforts out in the gardens. With the warm weather and sunshine, our roofing contractor was here today and began the process of re-roofing both the gazebo (top picture) and observation pier structure (directly above). The guys had lots of material to scrape off and haul but they think they may be able to finish by the end of the day tomorrow with Wednesday being another warm and sunny day.

We had a busy morning at the Horticulture Center today. Rose and Dr. Gredler (further above) continued painting the cucumber supports and had dueling lime painting projects. We're at least 75% done with our painting efforts but still have to finish our pedastal/urn combinations, five culvert pipe planters and some other garden elements. Directly above are Kay (left) and Mary (right) who spent the morning processing the start of all our vegetable labels for the spring plant sale. The process of tearing and separating all these labels is quite monotonous but the ladies did well. Kay (to the left) could still smile and didn't throw scissors at anyone today. Janice was in to continue producing these label sheets and the end result will be prepared name labels (with additional info) for every vegetable purchased at the sale. A four pack of vegetables would have four labels (one for every plant) as we have a "mix and match" opportunity where people can combine individual plants and create their own collections. Nancy came in to help with the reference library and our Garden Development Committee met (Dr. Gredler, Gary, Joanne, Chris R., Iza and Kris K.). We reviewed the Wellness Garden plan and are proceeding with some further refinements to keep this process moving along. Larry and Bill were outside most of the day tidying up. We also saw Dick H., Jenny E., Dave E., Nick N., and many others today.

To the right is the spathe of the skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) poking out of the soil in a local woodland. This flower structure generates heat (up to 70 degrees F) as it pokes up thru cold soils and possibly snow. The smelly blooms will attract pollinators such as bees and flies but is rarely disturbed by other wildlife as it is fairly toxic. This perennial is thought to be very long-lived with specimens over 100 years old not unlikely. We don't have this plant at RBG but it is not uncommon in damp woodlands or marshes in the area. I think that structure is quite fetching although the odor of the blooms makes this plant aptly named. To the left is a Danford iris (Iris danfordiae) which is planted in the fall as a bulb. There are a dozen or so of these blooming in front of the Parker Education Center with many more emerging. These literally came up overnight as I looked for them yesterday to no avail. I've seen these blooming in late March in the past so they aren't too far off their normal bloom cycle. To the right is the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) that I've featured recently as it has been opening up. Well, it's open and looking good!

It's not too late to pick up an oak leaf and join our "Leaf Your Cares Behind" art in the gardens project. We still have 12 of these available ($40 entry fee) and are trying to encourage placement/sponsorship of these last lonely leaves. Check out our website (www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org) for more information. At the bottom is a photo of an old master plan (1993) designed by Dennis Buettner (www.buettnerassociates.com/). Dennis, whom I've known for years, is quite talented and really did a nice job with laying out the early gardens. The formal gardens, reception garden and sunken garden followed his original plans but we've gone some other directions as well. Those that have visited the gardens in the past would note many of these garden recommendations seen here don't exist and were not implemented (particularly the eastern half of that plan) I'm using this as part of my historical reference project as we need to keep track of "what we were" and "where we've been".