Friday, April 24, 2015

A Tempting Triad


Our "tempting triad" is in reference to our combined Pansy Sale, Compost Sale and the Golden Kiwanis Tree Sale, all of which will be occurring at the Horticulture Center tomorrow (Saturday, April 25th) from 8 am until 4 pm.  Above is one of the many types of pansies that will be offered for sale in three different formats; hanging baskets ($12), planters ($7) and 4-packs ($2 each) - tax will be added.  The compost is sold in 1.5 cubic foot bags (see sample below) which are roughly 45 lbs. or so. These are $6 each plus tax.  RBG Members get 10% off the compost and pansy opportunities.  The Golden Kiwanis Tree Sale features Colorado blue spruce, Eastern arborvitae, white pine, red-osier dogwood and red oak.  All plants for the tree sale are $2 each.  We hope to see some traffic tomorrow although the weather looks pretty lousy with rain and cold temperatures.  Oh well...that's April for you!


 Golden Kiwanian John J. ready to sell trees!

Kathy (above) was one of many volunteers that helped out today.  Kathy did a great job tidying multiple areas with a strong focus on dealing with early weeds.  Dr. Gredler was in for painting and mowing out in the gardens.  He also is spreading grass seed in thin areas.  Bill O. was around this morning to help paint inside and Maury ran errands for us and also helped with the tree sale.  Kay came in to tidy up in the sunken garden as our first wedding of the season is this Sunday in that space.  Jenny was in to work on more label preparations and we also saw Polly, Dick H., Glenn D. and many others today.

The grounds staff was busy as is usual on a Friday (and every day!).  Cindy potted up 250 'Moonlight' caladiums this morning and headed out for garden clean-up and tidying in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden.  She also checked on our greenhouse and yard watering.  Big John potted up elephant ears (Colocasia esculenta) this morning and moved outside to mark irrigation heads (to avoid as we aerate the lawns!), installing and filling more containers with soil, gravel spreading and much more.  Janice helped prepare for the craziness tomorrow, did the cutting display and bounced between some additional gardening tasks.  I was out in the gardens briefly but am preparing for the weekend which also includes training tomorrow for our Garden Ambassadors (9  am), Tour Guides (11 am) and Sunday Watering Volunteers (1 pm).  Too bad it wont be 75 degrees F and sunny!  Enjoy the color below, all photographed today.

 variegated false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides 'Sunburst')
 'Sunningdale Variegated' masterwort (Astrantia major)
 bloom of perennial vinca (Vinca major)
 variegated wayfaringtree viburnum (Viburnum lantana 'Variegatum')
 'PJM' rhododendron (Rhododendron sp.)
 emerging foliage of 'Kelly's Gold' boxelder (Acer negundo)
 emerging 'All Gold' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra)
 'Jack Frost' false forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla)
 'Mars' barrenwort (Epimedium sempervirens) just starting to bloom
emerging foliage and flowers of yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra)
 another beautiful day at the gardens...

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