We're continuing to dig up perennials around the gardens for our perennial division day this Saturday. I'm flagging perennials around the gardens that are in need of division or will be removed entirely from the collections (because we usually have plenty of that type). I'm very pleased with our spring progress and at the risk of jinxing it, I'd say that we're way ahead of where we've been in past years. Crunch time is coming and we have lots of plants rolling in daily (see below). The yard will start to fill up and before too long, we'll have 100,000 plants to poke in the ground, label and maintain. It's all good though. It's a lot of fun too.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tulip Time (A Bit Early)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
An "Octobery" April Day
The weather was frigid this morning but warmed up enough to be quite comfortable while working out in the gardens. We didn't get close to frost temperatures and hopefully wont in the near future. The cooler temperatures should help lengthen and "preserve" tulips and other bulbs blooming right now.
I walked the entirety of the gardens which I always enjoy. Of course it's tough to put "blinders" on as I see weeds and other distractions. I take a notepad now to write down some "action items" as my memory is not what it used to be. I'm always ready with back up projects for volunteers and wont run shy of things to do until December at this point. I took many pictures today and caught this neat grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum 'Mt. Hood') with its little "snow-capped" tops. Years ago we planted 50 taxa of Muscari and there are some neat ones out there. Weed control efforts are in full swing as we're seeing lots of little devils popping up everywhere. Time spent now with proactive weeding saves a lot of time later in the season. We're only limited by the number of hands helping out there right now!
Don't ever forget to enjoy the beauty of emerging foliage on deciduous plants. Many times the new foliage has a neat color and/or texture. This image below is of the golden cutleaf elderberry (Sambucus racemosa 'Sutherland Gold' with pinkish new growth that will age to bright gold and shoot up to 6-7 feet tall in one season. Note how far it was cut back in winter (down to 15"). Love this new growth (and this shrub in general).
Monday, April 28, 2008
Chilly But Constructive Today
One of my favorite tulips is pictured here ('Prinses Irene') and is blooming in front of our visitor's center. Every fall we plant 2000 new tulips in that garden. The other variety is an orange one ('Orange Impression'?) that I'll show in the near future. When all of these tulips are done blooming, we dig them out and give them to volunteers to plant at home. This display usually corresponds to our color scheme that year (lots of orange this year, and blue!). Tulips are certainly a classic and I wish we had more $ to put them in every fall. Our talented "carpentry Grumpies" built this bench to surround one of our hackberry trees (Celtis occidentalis) in the gazebo garden. I envision this bench being used quite often. Special thanks to the talented Dave, Jim, Bob and Vern.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Enjoy It While It Lasts!
The bleeding hearts (Dicentra sp.) have emerged very quickly. Cool temps will slow them down this week but look for them to bloom by the first week in May. We enjoy this perennial immensely and love the white variety 'Alba' as much as any. Your decision as the foliage yellows in July is whether or not to cut it down as it goes dormant. We cut some do
wn to make room for neighboring perennials that are filling out but will leave some with their dormant golden/yellow foliage for interest. Try the variety 'Goldheart' for a beautiful golden leaved variety that looks good thru the entire growing season and has a nice, deep yellow coloration.
We have more bagged compost coming tomorrow, plants from Nebraska (Bluebird Nursery) on Tuesday that will have to be protected inside and a big perennial division work day this Saturday. A busy week interspersed with less than desirable weather. This is WI of course so we'll cope! Summer teaser below.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
A Sassy Saturday

Friday, April 25, 2008
Do We Really Need More April Showers!?

Our rose garden has a wonderful collection of shrub roses from Bailey Nursery (MN). Installed last year, over 100 roses represent 28 varieties in their Easy Elegance series. We are one of very few trial and display sites for their roses. The deal is that we pretty much leave them alone and take observations and notes during the year. This data is then sent back to Bailey. The benefit for us is the ability to show some truly, low-maintenance roses for the home landscape. We used to have lots of hybrid teas, grandifloras, etc. but I don't miss having to put on the white suit, block off the garden and poison the environment with my Solo MistBlower shooting out various chemicals to maintain the appearance and health of roses that most homeowners would not be interested in maintaining anyway. I probably lost a couple years of my life being in close proximity to so many chemicals.
Not much to report about today. We're getting our containers ready outside and continue to dig perennials for division. We find it easier to remove the entire perennial, dice it up, pot the divisions and later return a portion of the plant (if warranted) to the original site. It's amazing how many divisions we've made already. We brought some plants, soil and pots inside for the Saturday volunteers to work inside on division. We certainly don't want any idle time at Rotary Gardens! Summer teaser below.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Back to April Weather

Hepatica acutiloba up above. It's a great woodland ephemeral.
The temperatures were still on the warm side for this time of year but the winds and overcast skies allude to both more rain and falling temperatures thru next week. I took this picture of hyacinths ('Kronos') in front of our visitor's center. We did a collection of hyacinths years ago and displayed over 80 varieties. My favorite variety is this deep, blue-violet 'Kronos' which has a nice scent as well. Hyacinths, planted in October as bulbs, should be in areas where they don't get a lot of water/irrigation during their dormant time. They will last longer in those soils and come back for many years. They sure do pack a lot of "flower power" though for such a short plant.
The crew from Wisconsin Public Television came to shoot a segment of The Wisconsin Gardener. Shelley Ryan, the host came with Kerman, Frank and Greg. They are a fun group and despite some retakes due to wind, visitors and other distractions, we ended up with two pretty good segments on horsetails (Equisetum) and hellebores (Helleborus). These four work well together and have a great sense of humor. Shelley does such a wonderful job "on the fly" and we certainly had fun today (and beat the rain that started in the afternoon).
Boxes are arriving daily with plants for the gardens. The UPS and FedEX guys visit often this time of year. It's just like Christmas when we open these boxes and see what "goodies" have arrived. Of course, the "goodies" are immediately in need of repotting, labeling and basic TLC. It's always a juggling act to deal with plants that are shipped from warmer climates. Many times these plants are weeks ahead of where they would be in our climate. We don't like leaving this tender growth outside over night, so we'll move plants in and out during the day and pamper them until it gets past mid-May and they can be planted in the garden. Many plants will be coming in next week as well.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Calm Before the Storm
We're continuing to divide perennials as time allows but are now shifting to more lawn care duties and weeding. Many weeds have germinated and will have to be dealt with ASAP. Time spent in April and May weeding will save lots of time in mid summer if you can tackle that first wave of weeds. Some other unique bulbs are blooming like the white checkered fritillary seen here (Fritillaria meleagris). This is a long-lived bulb and while the "checkering" is hard to see on this white variety, the dark pink blooms have a conspicuous maroon checkerboard pattern as well. Plant these bulbs in well-drained locations in October. No summer teaser today but a glimpse of the peak bloom of the star magnolia (Magnolia stellata) that will be hit with light frost soon and the flowers will be done. Enjoy.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Unseasonably Warm Today; Implications?
The image below is one of my favorite spring bulbs. This windflower (Anemone blanda) is planted as a small bulb in October. While short in stature, this plant has lacy foliage and very large, daisy-like blooms. It is probably one of the more asked-about bulbs out in the spring garden. The blooms emerge in late April and last a week or two depending on the temperatures. The foliage goes dormant and disappears by mid-June. Buy these bulbs by the dozen and look for the pretty blue variety too!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Well, It WAS a Daily Blog...
I had a good run for awhile there. Saturday was cra
zy at the gardens with a wonderfully productive (albeit chaotic) work day. Daffodils are going crazy (Note Narcissus 'Pistachio' to the right). We had 25 teenagers from St. Matthews youth group come and help pot up perennial divisions from the garden. The forecast was for rain all day so we set up everything inside our Horticulture Center. The weather was nice and I had another 20 adult volunteers in need of a job out in the gardens. The kids were very productive and once we hit our groove, we had volunteers digging perennials from the garden, dividing them and then getting them to the kids for repotting, labeling and pricing (May 17 sale). We must have added another 2,000 divisions to our growing collection. Our work days are always fun and this was no exception. We had a donut break and although I was surprised by the number of teenagers "chugging" coffee, I didn't mind the increased output....

The summer teaser is of our salvia collection last year (150 varieties). This year it will be annual vinca (Catharanthus) of over 170 varieties. More about that later....
Friday, April 18, 2008
The Momentum Builds...
By the way, if you are reading this blog, there is a a little blue "comment" tab at the bottom of each post. Feel free to comment, add input and/or ask questions. The intent of this blog is not only to give a "smidge" of what is going on daily out in the gardens but to interact with volunteers, visitors and those interested in what we're doing at Rotary Gardens. The image below is of a small, golden fullmoon maple (Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon') in the Japanese garden near one of our lanterns. Of course deciduous plants haven't "leafed out" yet, but they will soon. Are we forgetting about winter yet?!

Thursday, April 17, 2008
A Terrific Thursday
Note more Chionodoxa forbesii in our front sign bed. This bulb has perennialized and has been there for my 10 years at the garden (I remember planting them). Lots of daffodils (Narcissus) blooming on time in the gardens. Years ago we planted over 300 varieties and probably have over 50,000 bulbs in the ground. Leaving the foliage to photosynthesize thru June is important although they can sure look sloppy in the landscape when the foliage flops and sprawls. Try mixing daffodils amongst other perennials that will emerge later and obscure the foliage. I'm often asked what the difference is between a daffodil and a jonquil. Narcissus encompasses all daffodils which are categorized into 13 divisions. Jonquils are just one of the divisions. I believe there are over 30,000 varieties of daffodils right now. We've planted them en masse (typically in groupings of 25 bulbs) and enjoy their contribution to the April garden. Summer teaser below with a monarch enjoying South American verbena (Verbena bonariensis). Coming soon!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
A Heat Wave (With High Winds)!
We're also keeping a close eye on our interpretive signs. We are "re-sinking" signs for trees and shrubs and are straightening our metal signs for perennials. We have over 400 signs for tree and shrub memorials; plus another 4,000 metal labels out in the gardens. They all need to be checked annually for replacement, repair or removal. Our signage is primitive but effective I feel. Much of our audience is interested in the "experience" of the gardens, not so much the names of the plants. However, with our mission "To promote horticultural education and appreciation for all people," we need to be able to keep track of what we have and both accurately and effectively relay that information. There is a fine line or balance between appropriate labeling and not cluttering things up too much.
Note the "summer teaser" below with images of our new terrace garden. A nice place to relax and enjoy the gardens. The gardens around this terrace are being developed over the next couple of years!


Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The "Snowball Effect" in April
We were out today spreading blended mushroom compost around the gardens. This is a great time for us to address large areas before perennials engulf the space. We are careful to taper the compost away from the emerging plants. We apply a 1" topdressing every year to existing perennial beds as an organic mulch that will eventually break down and enrich the soil.
Sculpture is an important part of the garden. We have many statues and about a dozen metal art pieces. This rose sculpture (note the cardinal on top - also metal) is one of my favorites and was created by local artist Brady Lueck who does wonders with sculptural steel. Many of these pieces are commissioned as memori
Monday, April 14, 2008
Blue Skies and Sunshine!
We have lots of Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) blooming right now. This little bulb packs a lot of punch when it comes to a bright blue color in spring. These bulbs are easy to plant (in Oct.) although the warning is that they will reseed prolifically and in open beds, you'll have the "grasslike" foliage of the babies filling in the gaps the following year. It then takes a couple years for these to bloom and seeds continue to drop. We don't mind these "colonies" as all the foliage of this plant will go dormant by early June and disappear until the following spring.
Lots more visitors are streaming in to the gardens and this week looks to be sunny and dry for a couple of weeks. We're finishing pruning, composting beds and otherwise, getting ready for the "fast and furious" time of year. Even our formal garden cherub is happy to see the sun today (notice blue drifts of squill in the rose beds behind the statue)!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
A Sunday of Anticipation
This statue is in our reception garden and depicts a female druid. She is cradling a small pine tree. This is one tough woman. She looks good after 100 years and has a long history in Janesville. She originally stood on top of the House of Mercy (nunnery) in Janesville which was the precursor to the Mercy Health System that has spread throughout Southern WI and Northern IL. She is on permanent loan from the Rock County Historical Society and was refurbished before being put in place in 1992. Unfortunately, she has been vandalized over 5 times; being pushed over many times and once was struck with bricks. Ron Sutterlin (Sutterlin Restorations) in Janesville has refurbished her twice now and she looks great. In a couple months, she'll be surrounded by white and blue flowers and is an important part of Rotary Gardens and Janesville. Best wishes for her "continued health"! The summer teaser below is a shot from last year of a moth (not a bee) on a 'Merlin Blue Morn' petunia. We like visitors of all sorts at Rotary Gardens.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Wishful Thinking Will Net Results

We had 210 cubic yards of shredded bark arrive in three loads over the past two days. The semi almost got stuck in the muddy morass of our back yard area but managed to dump all three loads successfully. We'll start spreading this shredded bark as it dries out and we can both access the piles and drive thru the garden without tearing up the saturated turf. We typically put another 1" topdressing of this material over existing areas of the same material as it does break down over time and requires refreshing. We'll use rougher, larger woodchips (donated) in more peripheral areas or those with just trees and shrubs. Regardless, we're stockpiling materials for spring use once the weather is more conducive to those activities. I'm looking outside at light flurries as I type so hopefully next week will be our target week to really get out there and achieve some "momentum". Summer teaser image below. This image is from our red/maroon collection last year and hopefully relays the importance of every volunteer at Rotary Gardens!

Friday, April 11, 2008
A Friday of "Productive Preparation"

I can't say enough about foliage. We all enjoy those first blooms of spring but seeing lush green foliage like this emerging (picture taken today) is a welcome sight. Most people confuse this foliage with that of daffodils (Narcissus). However, this is the foliage of the resurrection lily (Lycoris squamigera). This foliage will photosynthesize and store energy in the bulb portion of the plant. The foliage later dies down in June. In August, you'll see the leafless stems of this plant emerge, topped by beautiful pink, trumpet-shaped blooms. The flowers last about two weeks and this plant is reliably hardy to zone 5. Mulching will help with hardiness as well. These bulbs will form very long-lived colonies.

We're looking forward to an exciting spring and the gravel yard at our maintenance facility will soon be filled with over 100,000 annuals, 4,000 perennials and dozens of trees and shrubs, all looking for a home. Lots of neat things coming up and the busy time has hit full force. Summer teaser below:
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