Catalogs Galore

I'm tackling my pile of catalogs daily and it's like shoveling in a snowstorm as more and more arrive each day!  If you were to stack all my 2013 seed and plant catalogs, I think I would have a 5' tall pile but I shouldn't complain as I really enjoy scanning each and every one.  It was a quiet day at the Horticulture Center with me only seeing Dr. Gredler, Dick H., Maury, Stan K. and the copier repair guy.  Dr. Gredler continued repainting our trash bins and then moved on to the pile of cords you see above.  This photo was from late yesterday afternoon but shows Larry (left) and Bill working thru this one of many incoming piles of cords.  Dr. Gredler put a dent in that brown pile of drop cords.  Stan was the only one to head out in the gardens to do some pruning in the Japanese garden.  He also commented on all the deer poop and evidence of light browsing here and there.  As I continue to put together seed orders, I keep in mind our various collections.  In the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden, the last two years have had our Smelly Garden theme.  We are now moving on to Pollinator's Paradise and my selections are changing accordingly.  It wont be hard to select plants that will attract adult butterflies, hummingbirds, etc. but we're also considering the larval food sources for the caterpillar stage of the butterflies.  We'll certainly include lots of dill (Anethum graveolens) seen directly below and parsley (Petroselinum sp.) seen two photos down.  This parsley photo was taken in a section of the herb garden at RBG.  

RBG was just asked to be part of the National Plant Trails Database program which was initiated last year by All-America Selections (AAS) and the University of Georgia - Athens.  This program will serve as a repository for flower trial information around the country and will have value for participating companies and growers because of the utilization of standardized data.  Nineteen gardens were involved in 2012 with thirteen of these being University-affiliated.  We're proud to have been asked to participate and while this will add to our current trialing responsibilities, we're excited about the opportunity to feature more plant material for our visitors and look forward to building relationships with more green industry growers and companies (more free plants too!).  :)