Another Beautiful Day

Today was a beautiful day with a blue sky and temperatures in the mid 60 degrees F. I was able to get out in the gardens for quite a duration with Janine from Northwest Quarterly magazine

which serves Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. They will be doing a feature article on the gardens and we talked about our history, collections and features for this year. We've been featured previously by Northwest Quarterly and greatly appreciate the exposure to past and future audiences. We also had a nice walk around the gardens and watched the continued advancement of our spring garden. At the top are the blooms of the Korean Sun ornamental pear (Pyrus fauriei 'Westwood') which also features some top notch orange/red fall color. All of our pears (Pyrus) are in bloom and they look spectacular this year all around town. To the lower right is one of our upright Chanticleer flowering pears (Pyrus calleryana 'Glen's Form') in the reception garden. Two photos above is the double flowering plum (Prunus triloba var. multiplex) at peak bloom and directly above is one of many peony (Paeonia) buds showing some color. To the right are some of the European anemones (Anemone nemerosa) in the Scottish garden. There are some sizeable patches in that garden (including a blue variety) that are offering some great color. Janine and I covered most of the garden and encountered our hissing goose duo near the observation pier. Some visitors mentioned their encounter to us as well and it didn't sound pleasant. To the left is the always beautiful blossom of the 'Coral Lake' magnolia (Magnolia hybrida) overlooking the water to the west of the Parker Education Center. Our star magnolias (Magnolia stellata) and saucer magnolias (Magnolia x soulangiana) are past peak but these hybrids are starting up along with many of our yellow blooming magnolias.

I bounced between many projects today including finalizing my presentation on Sensational Shrubbery which I'll present tonight at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (Madison, WI). They have lots of great educational programs and the gardens are always worth visiting (highly encouraged!). I'll try to get up there for some pre-presentation photography. I also met with Mike M. regarding our April 25 program here at RBG. We're offering a program entitled Gardening to Enhance Well-Being - Working With Older Populations. As a joint venture between RBG and UW-Cooperative Extension, this event is targeted towards activity directors, occupational therapists, physical therapists and care givers. Check out our website at http://www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org/ for more information on this event and all of our exciting April opportunities (Earth Day, Tree Sale, Arbor Day, Compost Sale, Healthy Soils lecture, etc...). Directly below is Dr. Gredler mowing in the area that will again become our Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Collection. There will be eight (8) of those structures out there with trailing vegetables coming out of the pipes and runner beans climbing up the supports. Doc will be able to mow right underneath and perhaps pick a trailing tomato from time to time! Further below are the buds of the white redbud (Cercis canadensis f. alba 'Royal White') just starting to open. The third photo down shows one of hundreds of our grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) groupings blooming out in the gardens right now.

We had a nice turnout of volunteers this morning. Marv was in early to work on a wide range of projects which including organizing some of the yard, painting and many other duties. He brought in a tasty coffee cake too! Luis arrived this morning to create more perennial labels and he organized some of his "previously produced" labels for Marianne who later came in to start the process of securing these signs to the bases that Larry created (see second photo from the bottom). Kay was in to continue peeling and organizing more lables for the Spring Plant Sale (see our website) and later moved out to do some clean-up and weeding in the shade garden. She did a great job as usual. Myrt and Nancy came in to do more gardening work in the Japanese garden and did an efficiently ruthless job of removing a carpet weed (unknown) that seems prevalent everywhere and was just starting to bloom (and thereby reseed quickly)! To the right is a white variety of pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) in the alpine garden. There are about 20 specimens (three different colors) of pasque flower in this garden looking dynamite in that garden. The alpine garden will continue to offer strong spring color and should be at peak soon. To the left is one of our nice yellow-blooming magnolias (Magnolia hybrida). This is the variety 'Yellow Lantern' located just inside our east gate. The blooms are quite large on this one and while this is a softer yellow than some of the others, it is still very striking. We also saw Big John, Maury, Pat and many others today as well.

Our Volunteer Soup Dinner last night went very well. I think there were close to 100 attendees or so. The chili was delicious and a big thank you to our volunteer coordinator Lori, other RBG staff and the Volunteer Committee for their efforts in preparing these three events. It was nice to see some new faces in the crowd and I believe there were a dozen or so "potentials" that we hope will become part of our family shortly. Our new Executive Director, Mary Penny-Fanning, was introduced to the group and said some nice words of appreciation to the volunteers. We collectively look forward to her tenure at the gardens. My historic talk on the gardens went well and I think I broke a world record in showing 579 slides in roughly 70 minutes! Many volunteers commented on the transformation from the early years but we all got a better feeling for all the hard work that was done in those early years. The bottom photo shows some of our volunteers at the event last night. To the right is the Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) which has such clear, lemon yellow blooms. Also called wood poppy, this native woodland perennial does like to "relocate" via re-seeding but we let it do it's thing as it is a showy filler and can take some pretty tough soils.

You Lookin' At Me!?

The goose above went on attack mode this morning when I went on the observation pier for a photo. He/she came right out of the water with some major hissing and forced my quick (and not graceful) retreat to safety. The goose and his/her partner have been trying to establish this structure as their own and based on that intimidating glare, I think I'll just stay away! Today was cooler (high of 69 degrees F) but quite nice with a cool breeze and intermittent sunshine. I had a wide range of tasks to work on inside but did make it outside for my daily (hopefully) tour of the gardens. I marked locations for our new elevated PVC planters and come of the culvert pipe planters as well. I'm trying to finish my presentation for tomorrow night at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (OBG) on Sensational Shrubbery (6:30 pm). I had an older presentation on this topic but never like to repeat a presentation so have been augmenting with additional shrubberies of merit. I'm actually back to OBG next week (Tuesday) for a presentation on Annual Grasses (6:30 pm). I'm hoping to travel up there early on both occasions to tour the gardens and take some more photos. To the left are some more garden hyacinths (Hyacinthus) out in the gardens. I wish I could recall this vivid pink variety. When we relocated our hyacinth collection years ago, the signs didn't travel with the bulbs unfortunately. Regardless, the hyacinths are perfuming the garden and peaking right now.

We had some activity in the gardens today with LP Tree Service (Garrick) grinding some sizeable stumps for us today. The clean up is significant after the grinding but Dr. Gredler, Larry and Bill made quick work of the project. We still have some smaller stumps off the beaten path that will necessitate a smaller grinder for access (if possible). To the right are the delicate blooms of the 'Black Sea' barrenwort (Epimedium hybrida) which are quite showy. This shot is literally taken from ground level. Most gardeners don't use barrenworts enough in their part shade and shade gardens. This variety (and many others) also get a great reddish orange fall color in November. Directly below are the green blossoms of the bearsfoot hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) that I've been featuring (and observing!) since December. The glossy green foliage on this plant is also quite fetching and we occasionally see seedlings of this species here and there. The next photo down is a close-up of the small but exquisite blooms of another barrenwort (Epimedium hybrida). This is the variety 'Fire Dragon' that was just planted last year and look at that awesome combination of yellow and light pink. This might be my new favorite (check out 'Lilac Fairy' too as it is cool but just moved to second place...). The third photo down is one of our crabapples (Malus) getting ready to open. Frost will not be kind to these opened flowers but we'll see what happens. We had another productive day both inside the Horticulture Center and out in the gardens. Larry and Bill accomplished the first push mowing of the season and we really needed it done. Dr. Gredler did some riding mowing and Little Jerry came in to mow the arboretum and Lion's Beach lawn. Larry will have to get the string trimmer out soon for touch-up. To my knowledge, we've never mown in March and typically don't do much until late April. Oh well, we simply have to adjust to the advanced season although I get more concerned about our ability to control this first generation of weeds! UGH! Rose was in for some painting work and Dr. Gredler also did some painting as well. Maury ran some very timely errands for supplies and it's nice to have he and Kay back from sunny Florida. I had a nice phone chat with Dr. Yahr (in AZ) and we'll see him back at the end of April. We also saw Urban, Janice, Chuck, Mark S. and many others. To the right is the Juno iris (Iris bucharica) which is fall planted and is one of my favorite spring bulbs. This clump is in the shade garden and they bloom well before overhead deciduous canopies create significant shade. I think we'll plant a couple hundred more of these in fall. To the left is the start of 'Whiskey Sour' plantain lily (Hosta) which is one of thousands of hostas quickly poking up out of the soil and "unfurling". I like to observe hostas throughout the season and we'll actually be applying some slug repellant shortly as we've been told that they are active with all this heat and are not shy about getting an early snack. To the right is the checkered fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) which always looks good and is certainly a conversation piece. We have a couple dozen of these around the garden and I enjoy photographing these beautiful (albeit drooping) blooms. With the wind today, I must have taken 20 shots of this one flower and this was the only one that wasn't blurry! Directly below are the "ready to pop open" buds of the Judd viburnum (Viburnum x juddii). This shrub is extremely fragrant (nice fall color too) and those blooms will perfume a good 40' radius or so and are a great cut flower for fragrance as well. The second photo down shows more of our redbud (Cercis canadensis) blooms opening up and at the bottom is another nice shot of the arched bridge framed by the gazebo. I take this shot dozens of times each year and should point out that the gazebo was positioned for this view (the bridge came first). Lots more going on this week and I'm in Milwaukee this Friday to speak at the Art in Bloom event (Shrub & Perennial Combinations) at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Should be fun.

A Chilly Respite

It was quite frigid this morning and while my vehicle indicated an outside temperature of 38 degrees F, the first swipe of my wipers caught some frost/ice. I didn't see any damage out in the gardens today but am really worried for commercial apple growers if we get a hard frost in the coming weeks. I'm glad I dressed in layers today and while my walk thru the gardens this morning was chilly, there was no shortage of plants in bloom. The top photo shows a view of the obervation pier, arched bridge, etc. thru a weeping cherry (Prunus sp.) and note the redbud (Cercis canadensis) to the right. Further above are the soothing blooms of the Virginia bluebell (Mertensia virginica) and directly above is one of my favorite perennials. I love the look of this golden bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Goldheart') and we have this variety in about 40 locations around the gardens. To the right is the start of the showy 'Grefsheim' spirea (Spiraea x cinerea) that is always striking in spring. To the left are the bright blooms of the Japanese kerria (Kerria japonica) which while having a thicket-like form, never has a shortage of blooms and has interesting green stems in the winter. We have six or seven varieties of kerria around the gardens (including those with double blooms) and they are hitting stride nicely for spring flower color.

Today was probably our busiest volunteer day yet this year despite the threat of rain (that didn't materialize). Ron W., Ron Y., Dick K. and Larry H. headed out for some composting duties along a new border we developed last fall between the North Point garden and alpine garden. Del continued with path clean-up efforts and Dr. Gredler was in to mow and accomplish various other tasks. Maury ran some errands for me and we also saw Urban, Gary, J.D., Jean S., Lois, Big John and many others. Marv and Terry spent some time setting up the first of our ten horizontal, PVC pipe planters. See below for some of that action. The soil is placed in the tube first and these then become deceptively heavy. The guys also have prepared our custom soil mix for these containers and others around the gardens (once they're placed in the coming weeks). Marianne inventoried some more plant labeling needs and Kay came in to continue processing plant sale labels (created by Cindi on Saturday). Dave T., Bob A. and Jim worked on assembling more supports for the upright planters (as seen below). Incidentally, these supports will also support runner beans. Rose continued painting some shelves and other structures for the upstairs office in the Rath Center. Pat M. composted and spread mulch while Larry worked on a wide range of projects. The oak leaf projects continue to trickle in and we'll see plenty more this week. To the above right is a cool one done by Jackie R. The little red specks are lady bugs (3D) engaged in all sorts of outdoor activities and note the spider's web in the lower right corner!My eye keeps noting the new cedar shake roofs of the gazebo (above) and obervation deck structure (top photo). My walk around also confirmed my worst fears in that we have a bumper crop of weeds with this "first wave" that we normally wouldn't see until mid-April. Oh well, we'll try to get an early crack at these weeds before we get another warm spell. Tomorrow night is the last of our three Volunteer Soup Dinners (5 pm) and it's not too late to RSVP if you are interested. I finally finished my historical RBG presentation and will be hard-pressed to finish in 1 hour! I found some very interesting images but of course, couldn't include everything. This digital record of the gardens will have increasing value in the future and is a nice visual record of our developmental history. I hope to repeat this presentation in the near future and perhaps invite the general public that I think would find it quite interesting. Thanks to Bill O. and Doug V. for scanning thousands of slides and images for this project and to Marianne for helping me sift, sort, organize and purge as needed! To the above right is the gorgeous bloom of the 'Ricki' magnolia (Magnolia hybrida) near the sunken garden. I have this same variety at home and always look forward to "the show". To the left are the blooms of the double flowering plum (Prunus triloba var. multiplex) near the entrance garden which are always quite fetching when this large shrub peaks. After this finishes blooming, Terry will shear it back in to a perfect, 8' x8' "meatball" which keeps it contained and offers a rounded form. Though only a "one season" plant for interest, it sure steals the show. To the lower right is the 'Mt. Hood' grape hyacinth (Muscari aucheri) that I always enjoy for that little "snow-capped" white portion at the top of the flower. Our grape hyacinths (Muscari sp.) have all been five weeks early as well. Directly below are the pastel blooms of the contorted quince (Chaenomeles speciosa 'Contorta') which also has an interesting branching pattern. We have some other quince varieties and you'll know quince around your neighborhoods if you see a good-sized, oblong shrub with brilliant orange or pink blossoms as the forsythias fade. Further below is the brilliant red foliage of the 'Cherry Cola' coral bells (Heuchera) that holds that reddish tint quite nicely and I think is quite aptly named. At the bottom is one of my favorite leaf patterns and one I can't stop photographing. This is a young leaf of the 'Jack Frost' false forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla) but it carries this silvering throughout the year and we're just starting to see the start of the sky blue, "forget-me-not-like" blooms of this variety and many others.

An Engaging Spring Symposium

Our annual spring symposium, Create An Engaging Garden, went very well today. The weather, while cooler than it has been in the past two weeks, was still pleasant and most of the attendees were able to enjoy the gardens during our breaks. It looked like it wanted to rain all day but it never materialized. As seen in the top photo, we had a fairly full house with around 140 in attendance. It was nice to accomodate everyone around tables and we had a lot of help this morning with getting set-up for this event (Kris, Polly, Lori, Mark S., Janice, Big John, Amanda and many more). Directly above are our three other speakers (besides me). Tim Gruner, on the far left, is the Garden Curator at Anderson Gardens in Rockford, IL. He did a great talk on how patterns and rhythms in nature can inspire peace and tranquility. I really got some insight in to how and why many elements were placed as they were at Anderson Gardens, the premiere Japanese Garden in North America. Go visit this garden! Evelyn Hadden, garden writer and author from Minneapolis, then spoke on story gardens and her talk was very inspirational in stressing the importance of the garden for memories, healing and a personal space. Evelyn also signed copies of her neat book (see to the right) which looks to be a great resource. Dr. Norm Lownds (above photo, far right) then did an engaging presentation on whimsy in the garden. Norm is an Associate Professor of Horticulture at Michigan State University (E. Lansing, MI) and is also curator of the 4H Children's Garden on campus there. I've been to that children's garden three times and it continues to be the one by which all others that have followed, will be judged. It is an amazing, "hands on" space and Norm's infectious enthusiasm was evident to everyone. He certainly gave Kris and me some awesome ideas for element and programs for our children's garden. To the left is another of our pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) blooming in the alpine garden and to the right are the first of our 5,000 white tulips (Tulipa) blooming out front. Unfortunately, these are timed for Mother's Day and will be long gone (peaking in 7-10 days from now). However, with more visitors coming early this year, many will still catch peak bulb time regardless.

Our lunch today was delicious and we had all sorts of snacks throughout the day. Kudos to Polly and Lori for keeping the food, etc. going and Kris did a masterful job orchestrating everything. Janice and many others were a huge help today as well. My talk on sensory gardens went well and we concluded another successful symposium and I think the feedback will be quite positive. Below is Leslie L. (far left) with some of her students from Shepherd's College (Union Grove, WI). The students donated some wonderful plants for our attendees and we appreciate their generosity in supporting our event. These same students are those that helped last fall with garden clean-up and bulb planting. At the bottom is are the showy blooms of the Prairie Gem Ussurian pear (Pyrus ussuriensis 'MorDak') near our main parking lot. Almost all of our ornamental pears are at peak right now. Back to business Monday and the remainder of the ground staff (Marv, Marianne, Terry, Janice, Jenny and Big John) will all start back a week from this Monday.

Rainy & "Cool"

We had some rain overnight and sporadically throughout the day today. With the rain came some nice cooling weather with highs in the upper 60 degrees F today. I'm happy for the rain but we'll see a major crop of weeds emerging next week for sure. With lots of plants emerging, like the primrose (Primula sp., unknown variety) directly above, the weeds will certainly take advantage of the advanced spring as well. The turkeys above (top photo) were working the periphery of the gardens this morning and when I took this shot, they were doing some speed walking on our Janesville portion of the Ice Age Trail just across Palmer Drive from RBG. I don't think they understand lane designations but the males were sure puffing out and showing off for the ladies when I got closer. To the right are the flower structures of the plantain-leaf sedge (Carex plantaginea) which is native to WI and a wide range of the Eastern United States. I like this grass-relative for its ornamental characteristics and many of our other sedges (Carex sp.) are blooming as well. To the left are the blooms of the Snow Fountains weeping cherry (Prunus hybrida 'Snofozam') which is one of the few that has been long-lived in the gardens. All cherries and plums (Prunus sp.) are blooming now which of course is quite early.

While Fridays in March are typically quiet, we had a nice turnout of volunteers today. To the right is the project Kay has been working on and she was at it again today. These are the labels for the plant sale plants that Janice and Cindi have been preparing for processing. We're essentially printing out 144 individual labels (three flats of 48 plants each) for all of our vegetable varieties. These labels are then torn, separated and will ultimately end up inserted in every cell of the returning plants. Some of these labels are tough to tear and Kay has a creative way to "tease" them out of there. Incidentally, the 'Red Rocoto' hot pepper (Capsicum) listed on these featured labels is a popular and unique pepper that is about 1" in size and packs some decent heat (30,000 Scoville Heat Units, SHU). Check out www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org and click on the Spring Plant Sale under our Events section and see all our plant lists. Rose and Dr. Gredler were in for some painting projects and were later joined by Marv. Marianne came in the office to process many of the new perennial labels that Luis made this week and was out in the gardens as well inventorying some of our labeling and relabeling needs. Pat M. went on a road trip to pick up a massive rental screen that we'll use for the Spring Symposium tomorrow. It took Big John, Pat, Mark S., Gary and I to get it set up! UGH. Jumbo Jim came in with three RECAPPERS and the guys did a great job tidying up in the Japanese garden. We hope some of our symposium attendees can dodge the raindrops tomorrow and wander through the gardens. Janice was in to help with symposium preparations and we also saw Urban, Dick H., Dave G. and many others today. Directly below are the "poised blooms" of the Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) which should be in full bloom by next week. I sure like the looks of the redbud including the white flowering forms. Unfortunately we can't grow the colorful leaved varieties (variegated, maroon, golden, etc.). We've tried them all to no avail. I think it's simply a hardiness issue.

Directly above are more bloodroots (Sanguinaria canadensis) emerging and blooming. Our woodland walk garden has a nice collection of woodland wildflowers that are all looking pretty good. Temperatures next week look to include highs around 70 degrees with evenings in the 40 degrees F. I'm not sure this will slow down the gardens much but we'll adjust as needed. I hope to get some sunny days for Round-Up application on garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and some other troublesome weeds. To the right is a row of Golden Peep forsythias (Forsythia x intermedia 'Courdijau') that was planted last year along this narrow border along the Japanese garden fenceline. We'll let these fill out and then keep them sheared. These are very bud hardy and have full coverage for blooms which is a lot better than the over-used "Bronx" forsythia (Forsythia viridissima 'Bronxensis') that has variable flower coverage depending on the severity of winter and snow levels. To the left is another pretty hyacinth (Hyacinthus) out in the gardens. While many plants are promoted as "fragrant", I think we all know that scent is subjective and not everyone prefers certain fragrances. However, I think there would be few that wouldn't enjoy some wafting fragrance of garden hyacinth and only one bloom can perfume the entire floor of a residence. In the same family as garden hyacinths are the grape hyacinths (Muscari). To the right is another nice species of grape hyacinth (Muscari latifolium) which is thought to be the largest in the genus with a height around 12" or so. Native to the pine forests in Turkey, this species in known for the two tone color effect which can be seen in the flower in the distance to the left. The dark violet flowers down low are fertile while the upper flowers are lighter violet and are sterile. We have many large groupings of this fall-planted bulb in our woodland walk garden. This species is quite popular and is offered at our Fall Plant Sale in September.

Further below are some more daffodils (Narcissus) which are quite prevalent throughout the gardens. The bottom photo shows the severe slope that looms above the gazebo garden. Years ago, we received a sizeable donation of daffodils very late in the season (November). I think we received 30,000 or so of many mixed varieties. We bagged them up in groups of 25 bulbs and I went up this slope and a good portion of the slope along our north path with blue flags. The Grumpies followed behind and planted a clump where I placed every flag. The results are quite striking and will only get better with time. I'll try to share some photos from the Spring Symposium tomorrow over the weekend.