I did a walk around the gardens this morning and really enjoyed the beautiful colors including those of redbud (Cercis canadensis) above. What a neat tree. We've had the maroon-leaved, golden and variegated varieties here but all have perished except for the straight species. I sure love the subtle flowers before the leaves emerge and the white-flowering form is beautiful as well. Productive day around here despite a small staff and volunteer turnout. Larry and Jim made two trips to go pick up our tomato plants for the plant sale this weekend. If you've ever wondered what 15,000 tomatoes look like, see below. Imagine if each of these produced 20 lbs of fruit (144 tons)! These represent 100 varieties of heirloom varieties that we've selected. They can be viewed at www.rotarygardens.org/images/2009%20tomato.pdf for those that may want to patronize the sale.
Janice worked on arranging some of the plant sale while Bob helped her and then worked on composting and "deadheading" spent tulip blooms. Dr. Gredler has been working on turf repair and both Bill and Marianne were here for various reasons. Mary helped me create and laminate plant sale signs while Kay and Barb did a nice job weeding around the gazebo garden this morning. With strong winds and thundershowers predicted tomorrow, we decided to put the baby tomatoes inside until Thursday but we'll organize labels tomorrow so we're ready to process these plants. Tomorrow will be pick-up day for the peppers (sweet and hot) and basil. It's interesting seeing various lawns this time of year. You can see the "perfect" lawns with no weeds, even mowing strips and a deep green lushness inspired by that first fertilization. I don't equate gardening s
uccess or laziness by the look of a lawn as there are so many other horticultural features of a landscape beyond the lawn. I've heard some criticism about our dandelions at Rotary Gardens but it's "water off a duck's back" as they say. We don't have the time, inclination or funds to chemically treat all our lawns for weeds. We give our lawns attention but only fertilize twice per year and spot treat as needed. I'm more worried about the 4 million garlic mustard seedlings, 12 million cottonwood seedlings (coming soon!) and some of the invasives that we're dealing with daily. A couple of dandelions are the least of our worries. Of course, creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) gets a bad rap too and I'll agree it is very aggressive. However, it is quite beautiful when it blooms (see to the left) and also has an interesting history over the years. Control is very difficult for this weed although it's durability in tough soils makes it a functional ground cover as well. Decide for yourself. See www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/Features/weeds/creepingcharlie/creepcharlie.htm and www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h510creepingcharlie.html for more information on this plant. Nice shot of the Ma-chii' in our fern/moss garden. What a beautiful day and tonite is our volunteer potluck to help celebrate and appreciate the importance of our wonderful volunteers (like Kay below, sporting her "doo-rag" and smile!).
uccess or laziness by the look of a lawn as there are so many other horticultural features of a landscape beyond the lawn. I've heard some criticism about our dandelions at Rotary Gardens but it's "water off a duck's back" as they say. We don't have the time, inclination or funds to chemically treat all our lawns for weeds. We give our lawns attention but only fertilize twice per year and spot treat as needed. I'm more worried about the 4 million garlic mustard seedlings, 12 million cottonwood seedlings (coming soon!) and some of the invasives that we're dealing with daily. A couple of dandelions are the least of our worries. Of course, creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) gets a bad rap too and I'll agree it is very aggressive. However, it is quite beautiful when it blooms (see to the left) and also has an interesting history over the years. Control is very difficult for this weed although it's durability in tough soils makes it a functional ground cover as well. Decide for yourself. See www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/Features/weeds/creepingcharlie/creepcharlie.htm and www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h510creepingcharlie.html for more information on this plant. Nice shot of the Ma-chii' in our fern/moss garden. What a beautiful day and tonite is our volunteer potluck to help celebrate and appreciate the importance of our wonderful volunteers (like Kay below, sporting her "doo-rag" and smile!). 
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