Monday, April 25, 2016

Spring Settles In With More Heat


We had a bit of rain this morning but otherwise it was mostly sunny and quite warm.  Plants continue to emerge and bloom (including weeds!) and we see more color each day.  The framework of the "Giant Aquarium" (seen above) is complete but there are some other phases left until this structure is ready to be filled with water (just kidding).  More to follow on this special garden space as news is available!  We had another excellent turnout of volunteers today and the grounds staff was busy all day.  This time of year, even before our big planting push, we have no shortage of gardening chores and activities out in the gardens.

Our volunteers included Eva, Kathy, Alan, Marv B., Lloyd, Ron P., Ron Y., Dave, Vern, Maury, Gary, Dick H., Dr. Gredler and many others.  Bev, Bob, Deb, Joan and Corky, along with three RECAPPERS, focused on dividing the remainder of our daylilies (Hemerocallis) and moved on to some other projects. These daylilies will be for sale ($5 each or $4 each for 5+) as part of our Friday and Saturday sale (8 am - 4 pm) which also includes the Golden Kiwanis Tree Sale, compost sale and pansy sale.  We also saw Janice, Hal, Marilyn H., Rollie and lots of others today as well.

The grounds staff all had excellent exercise today.  Cindy watered, helped pot up caladiums and re-organized one of our greenhouses for maximum efficiency and use of space.  She shifted to garden tidying and significant composting in the future Hummingbird Haven (Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden).  Larry H. watered, composted and spread a lot more mulch out in the gardens.  Big John and Terry drained, cleaned and filled the sunken garden pool for the start of the season and moved on to filling more containers and lots of other projects.  I'm getting ready for our sales coming up and orchestrating our deliveries for the Spring Plant Sale as well (see our website!).  More color from the gardens (today) can be seen below...

 'Grefsheim' white spirea (Spiraea x cinerea) - woody shrub
 merrybells (Uvularia grandiflora) - perennial
 'Gravetye Giant' summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) - perennial
 variegated foliage of 'Shockwave' garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) - perennial
 Koreanspice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii) - woody shrub
 patch of pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) - perennial
 checkered fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) - perennial
 sea kale (Crambe maritima) emerging - perennial
 golden bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Goldheart') - perennial

The Earth Day festivities at the garden this past Saturday went very well!  I stopped by in the late morning and the main parking lot was entirely full which didn't surprise me.  The food carts above were seeing some action and I hear that the bird shows also did well for attendance. The photos below were taken at the event.  Kudos to RBG Staff (Maryam and Polly) for their major role in getting this event going as well as our wonderful education volunteers, organized by Bev F.  Volunteers made this event happen and we were pleased to see so many families out in the gardens on a beautiful day.

 Maryam P and Wes E.
 Dennis and friend from the Ice Age Trail Alliance
 the booths were even busy during the bird shows and there were lots of folks enjoying the gardens
 Dawn (left) and Victoria as welcoming Greeters at our Earth Day event
the tulips (Tulipa) out front are blooming nicely with the heat

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