A Great Day Follows A Great Evening

Last night was our Founder's Dinner to recognize the vision and accomplishments of Dr. Robert Yahr, the founder of Rotary Botanical Gardens. This was extremely appropriate for many reasons, not the least of which is the celebration of our 25th anniversary this year. We had a great turnout and a fun evening in general. The bottom photo shows Dr. Yahr with his four children (Lynn, Kris, Bruce and Sue - left to right). The entire evening went smoothly and I believe Dr. Yahr enjoyed the evening, particularly my "roast" of him during my presentation! That great evening was followed by a return to the business of gardening this morning! Above is the 'Happy Ring' cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) in our Cosmos Collection. This is one of the first to bloom and I'm amazed at how well the 66 varieties of cosmos are filling in throughout this collection. We had another great turnout of Grumpies and other volunteers and had a productive day outside. With sunshine and temperatures around 75 degrees F, it was perfect working weather and it was also nice to see so many visitors enjoying the garden. Below are some plant photos from this morning.

'Marcus' perennial salvia (Salvia nemerosa)

bloom cluster of the arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum)

Our Grumpies dove right in to multiple projects this morning. Above are Ron P. (left) and Ron R. working on a tree mulching project on the west end of the gardens. They hauled many loads of mulch and did a great job out there. Directly below are Gary B. (left) and Ron W. headed out to cut back bulb foliage in some of the beds that we have yet to plant with our trials. The guys cleared out multiple areas and brought back significant debris; including some serious thistles! The next photo down shows Dick H. working on our trailer tires and he has no shortage of vehicle repairs as we have two others "down for the count." It is nice to have his handy talents around for sure! Ron B. worked on organizing some of our plastic flats and containers which is no small task. Pat M. had a couple tasks and is modifying some of our peripheral fencing to allow for easier cart access as needed. The third photo down shows Jim (left) and Vern headed out to work on some bench/fence repairs along the Japanese garden periphery. They worked with Dave T. on these multiple projects. Kathy, Eva and Shirley worked on weeding the woodland glen garden which will be mulched shortly. Gary S. worked with the laser engraver and produced a new batch of labels which was perfect timing. The fourth photo down shows Maury cleaning out some gutters. He also went on a run for fuel and other supplies. We really appreciate his willingness to run for supplies at a moment's notice. We also saw Dr. Yahr and his family along with many others this morning.

The grounds staff was busy today as can be seen by Jenny above. She was matching more labels to the plants out in the holding yard that still need to be installed. I think over 60% of our spring plantings are installed with the rest to go in ASAP. Our limitation right now is just the number of planters and we try to get a couple areas done every day. I have plants poised for tomorrow and beyond. Terry (see directly below) worked on shearing (obviously), watering and many other projects. Big John and Larry removed a good size tree in the fern & moss garden and moved on to other projects. John also rototilled while Larry worked on some of our water features as well. Cindy cleared more areas of bulb foliage, planted our last four containers and watered the entire yard this afternoon. I collected more plants for two more areas, had meetings, sprayed some herbicide and am getting ready for larger planting groups later in the week and our Saturday Volunteer Planting Day this Saturday, June 14th. Further below are more plant photographs from today.