Recharging Until Friday

Hi all. Off until Friday. I'm heading to see my parents in the Chicago area and taking my younger daughter with me. We hope to check out the Morton Arboretum (http://www.mortonarb.org/) while in the area which really is one of the premiere arboretums in the country and has plenty of winter interest as well. I grew up in that area and went there often as a kid. Should be fun. Spent the day with Janice at the Midwest Perennial Conference in Pewaukee, WI (near Milwaukee). This is a fun and educational event held annually and sponsored by W. & E. Radtke Nursery and Shady Acres Nursery. They do a great job organizing this event and it is always a great time to network. Larry was supposed to go but was quite ill so Janice went as his replacement. Richard Hawke from the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) did a nice job talking about some of the perennials that he recommends based on his trials over the past 20 years. CBG is a must see garden as our Richard's trials. He's given our grounds staff very cordial tours over the past couple of years. Ed Lyon, our former Executive Director, gave two presentations and they were very well received. He certainly promoted the gardens as many of his images were from RBG. A marketing guy gave some good information on internet marketing and Neil Diboll from Prairie Nursery (http://www.prairienursery.com/) gave an awesome presentation on tough, native perennials as well. Great day but ready to take a break before full speed hits again. Below is a variegated sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus 'Eskimo Sunset') that Ed showed today in his talk. Unfortunately, it didn't make it at the gardens and we all are questioning hardiness. The lesson here is that before you purchase the eye candy, do some research and see if the plant of interest has an "establishment history" in your area. We all like to experiment and "push the envelope" but it can sure get expensive!

n.