Get Your Color Fix

We had about a half inch of snow last night and woke up to a winter wonderland.  Of course it's not unusual for snow well in to early April but I think we were all hoping for a respite with all these teasing days of warmer temperatures.  Regardless, the snow melted off pavement fairly quickly although it was a cold day and I heard roads were a bit slick this morning.  This blog is meant to simply provide color and hopefully provide a "temporary fix" as we wait for our gardens to emerge for spring.  All of these photos were taken by me in the Netherlands in April of 2012.  Most are from Keukenhof (www.keukenhof.nl/en/) although some are from the Floriade (www.floriade.almere.nl/en/) which happens every 10 years (next one in 2022!).

I'm working from home today and catching up on plant records and other desk work tasks.  Larry received and unloaded the bagged compost delivery this morning at the Horticulture Center.  We now have 900 bags ready for purchase! We'll be selling this bagged product (1.5 cubic ft. or 45 lbs per bag) starting on Saturday, April 5th (8 am until 12 noon).  Bags are $6 each plus tax although RBG Friends Members receive a 10% discount.  We'll offer this bagged product every Saturday in April and May and with both our Spring and Fall Plant Sales.  Check out the RBG website for more details on the Spring Plant Sale and Spring Tree Sale.  Dr. Gredler was in to paint and process cords, Pat continued efforts with the Holiday Lights Show takedown and Larry H. came in to cut back more perennial grasses.  I'm sure plenty of others stopped by throughout the day.  Tonight is our second Volunteer Soup Dinner (the soup isn't volunteering...volunteers are eating the soup). I'm going to talk more about 2014 and give a presentation on some gardens I saw in Vancouver, B.C. last summer. 

A Cooler Week

 

Winter hasn't released that lasting grip yet and we had a chilly start to the day and a fairly cool week.  It was nice and sunny though and I continue to take the classic photo that you see above.  Despite recent warm days, there is still snow and ice in certain garden areas with more shading like the Japanese garden.  We had a superior turnout of volunteers today for plenty of work out in the gardens and inside work at the Horticulture Center.  We continue to take down Holiday Lights Show (HLS) elements although the tough winter is assisting as well.  See directly below for Santa's reindeer starting to lose altitude in the sunken garden!  Pat M. worked on bringing in more lights and other elements as did Larry H., Lloyd, Larry and Bill.  The guys also brought in the 20' tall "Tower of Power" for processing as it will go back out in the gardens as a summer element.  Pat did a nice job of orchestrating the original set-up of this obelisk and the transport today.  There is a rumor that a second "Tower of Power" will be created shortly....  Bob C. and Gene continued garden clean-up which involved cutting back lots of perennial grasses.  The guys also bounced between some other projects. Urban was in for pruning and Maury ran errands for us.  Gary worked on creating and processing more labels (third photo down) and Dr. Gredler shifted from painting to cord processing with Gene (fourth photo down).  Ron Y., Jim, Dave and Vern had plenty of carpentry work and Bob K. (new Grumpy) is working on some electrical improvements.  Gary B. did more painting as did Del.  We also had our Horticulture Therapy Committee meeting with Darcie, Tammie, Cindy B., Mary W., Karen, Janice and me.  Our Home Garden Tour Committee met later in the evening (mark July 12th on your calendars for this event!).  The second photo down shows the results of a partial prairie burn that the parks department started this morning.  It was still a bit damp so they'll be back to finish it in the coming weeks.

 

 

I ordered some new varieties of false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) today and couldn't help but think how under-utilized they are in the garden.  Also called smooth ox-eye, this native perennial thrives in a wide range of soils, forms a nice expanding mass and can tolerate part sun (full sun preferred though).  While there are many "daisy-like" perennials out there, false sunflower is extremely durable with a long summer bloom period and a nice mid-height stature usually between 3' and 5'.  There are some more compact varieties and the variability in flower forms is quite nice with double forms, semi-double forms and single forms.  Some selections (see below) also have red "halos" in the flower center which adds more interest.  Above (and directly below) is the 'Summer Sun' false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) which is one of my favorites.  There are some varieties that also have slightly darker foliage with hints of maroon in the spring although I'm partial to the "webbed" variegated forms seen at the bottom of this blog.  The variegated variety 'Loraine Sunshine' has lots of foliar interest with this white highlighting of the leaf veins.  While an occasional green shoot will appear, we prune it out quickly and enjoy the combination of blooms and foliage but appreciate that the foliage contributes from May until mid October.  The newer variety 'Summer Pink' has pink tints to the foliage as well.  Regardless, you can't go wrong with considering false sunflowers for steady, reliable impact in your gardens.

'Summer Sun'

'Prairie Sunset'



'Summer Nights' (note red "halo" in center)

'Tuscan Sun' (compact)

'Asahi' (compact double)



'Loraine Sunshine' (foliage)

'Loraine Sunshine'

'Summer Pink'

'Summer Pink'

Successful Symposium

Our Gardening for Good Spring Symposium went well today.  We had a crew of about 100 attendees (see above) and it was a sunny day despite being a bit chilly.  The speakers (Eliza, Barb and Cindy) all did a great job and it certainly was inspiring to hear about the value of horticulture for all of us.  Some attendees wandered the gardens which were a soupy mess but still enjoyable.  The lunch, silent auction (thanks Song Sparrow Nursery!), raffle, etc. all went well.  We displayed some of our elevated planters too including the one seen below.  The plants seen in that planter were on loan from K&W Greenery (Janesville) and everyone seemed to enjoy the day.  Kris K. did a nice job keeping everything running smoothly and we appreciate the help today from Polly, Mark S., Janice, Cindy, Marsha M. and Cheryl.  At the tail end of the lunch hour, I did a short presentation about our history and included some promotion of our 25th Anniversary and collections this year.  The second photo down shows students from Shepherds College (Union Grove, WI).  Shepherds College is the country's leading three year, post-secondary educational program for students with intellectual disabilities.  The students and their instructor Leslie brought plants yesterday to share/sell at the event.  Students from this program, which includes a horticulture tract, also come help at the gardens every fall.  All in all, a great day.

Yesterday morning I traveled to Stonefield Plant Farm (Evansville, WI) to drop off seeds for starting over the coming weeks.  Patty (below) was popping out baby pansies that were being planted in four packs by an industrious crew of her helpers.  I always enjoy talking with Patty and Herb and their children, Kurt and Erika are also "in the business" at their own home nurseries.  The other photos are meant as a "visual fix" and show their greenhouses filling up quickly with color!  Yay!

Genesis Of The Reception Garden

 

I was ordering some additional plants today for our reception garden (seen above a couple of years ago) and thought I'd share some historic photos of this space as part of our 25th Anniversary and celebration of the creation and further development of RBG.  The image above features the common blue and silver theme that we have typically follow every year in this small garden space just west of the sunken garden.  The archway is from the Parker Pen World Headquarters and is on permanent loan from the Rock County Historical Society.  This archway separates the reception garden from the sunken garden and is considered a feature of both gardens.  The reception garden is interesting in that I've never seen an actual reception held in this area although it is the perfect staging area for events in the sunken garden like weddings, musical venues, Shakespeare in the Garden (years ago), etc.  The asphalt paving is not ideal as it gets pretty hot (and soft) in summer but the predominantly blue scheme helps "cool it down" visually.  Years ago we used to put a tent (or tents) over this space for events but that was always challenging with containers and plantings.  The space is very formal in arrangement and has some beautiful hardscaping with lannon stone walls, raised beds, center planter and a druid sculpture that was on top of the House of Mercy Nunnery many years ago.  She is positioned on a "sight line" opposite of the arch seen above with a view down the middle of the sunken garden.  Colorful containers and surrounding evergreens help complete the scene which always fills in nicely.  Further below is a sequential progression showing the development of that garden back in 1992?  I need to pick Dr. Yahr's brain when he comes back from AZ so I can connect some of these "historical dots."

 

We had a productive day and the weather was very cooperative with sunshine and temperatures in the mid 50 degrees F.  Pat worked on processing more lights from the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) and Terry came in to bring in more HLS lights and displays as well.  Bill O. was out tidying up in the garden and also helped with some HLS duties.  Urban came in for some pruning and Maury, Glenn and I met regarding the Spring Tree Sale (held in conjunction with the Spring Plant Sale, see our website!).  Janice worked on plant sale duties amongst other things.  We also saw Bev W., Leslie L. and students from Shepherd's College (Union Grove, WI) that brought plants for the symposium tomorrow.

 

original reception garden site with the sunken garden ultimately being developed between the tree lines in the distance

early wall work by masons

a segment of the archway goes up with help from the Wisconsin Conservation Corp

the "archway gang" above with Harold Todd (center) as their leader/mentor

early site after archway and first wall are developed

same as above

preparing the site

asphalting (see the start of the sunken garden in the distance)

the cast elements in the foreground will go to form the center planter

same as above

early view looking southward (note the Parker Pen on the left and another structure on the right)

This structure in the distance was put in place and ultimately removed for some reason.  However the flared columns were re-used to support an arching bronze duck sculpture in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden and the three pieces seen above that form the arch were separated and used in the Scottish garden (look for the bench) and hosta hollow.

the druid sculpture from the House of Mercy

the druid (after refurbishment) being lowered in to place

same as above

early Grumpies posing with the druid (note the new hedge)

the druid last year with a backing of arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis)

above is our pink theme in 2012?, the only year we strayed from the blue/silver theme