AAS Collection Planted (..and then some!)!!!

With today being our third of six consecutive scheduled volunteer work days (for planting), I was concerned when there was a morning drizzle. With a threat of sporadic rain over the coming three days, I thought the morning would be clear but arriving to the gardens in the rain made me worry about our volunteer work day attendance. Above is Magda who was our "first to arrive" with a daunting task of putting in over 3,000 plants representing over 150 All America Selections (AAS) winners in our AAS Display Garden. We've been a Display Garden for AAS for many years and have won two national awards from them (2004 Exemplary Education Award and last year, the 2012 Landscape Design Competition - 1st Place for our category). Jenny and I had these plants spaced out on Thursday and I was worried we wouldn't have enough help today. Well, we sure ended up with a great team (see below) that included Magda, Terri, Mary W., Margerite, Ava, Marv B., Dennis, Gena, Savannah, Cheryl, Mason, Kay, Keith, Jodi, Ron W., Bev W., Renee, Gary, Tina, Leslie B., Cathy H., Dr. Yahr, Linda S., Bruce S., Del and Maggie. What a great team! They not only finished the AAS Display Garden but moved to three entrance garden beds after break. I think we put in close to 7,000 annuals today which is awesome. Big John, Janice and Larry were a big help as grounds staff hauling plants, containers, hoses, tools, etc. to and fro all morning. Del was a big help too with processing garbage and recycling. Bill O. did a nice job tidying up the wedding site (sunken garden) and elsewhere (see him in the bottom photo). Pat and Pete worked the last Saturday of the Spring Compost Sale and the Janesville Area Herb Society had a nice work day. We also saw Nancy M., Marilyn B., Ellie K. and many others. Yay team RBG! Below are more photos of our productive morning that was cool but dry until at least mid-day. The next three work days will be just as intense with many large areas still left to plant.