Rainy But Welcome

We've really needed some rain and knew it was coming. It was a drizzle most of the evening with periods of heavier rain. This morning, it let loose for an hour or so and quickly filled the retention basins (see above) at the horticulture center and created some path washouts and messes out in the gardens. Look at the "sheet flow" of water across our yard. Much of that runoff is from neighborhoods above the garden that drain out of a culvert pipe behind our yard. It has been misty most of the day and overcast. It was the perfect day to catch up desk work and upcoming events (spring plant sale, home garden tour, etc.). John started today and joined Janice potting up some of our summer bulbs (see to the left). They potted up well over 300 bulbs that included cannas, dahlias, fragrant tuberose (Polianthes), caladiums, etc. We'll rotate these outside on warmer days and this little jump start will be beneficial for these bulbs when we put them out as established plants in late May. Janice also worked on her various projects and everyone helped Larry unload a delivery of 9 trees and 40+ shrubs that came in around lunch time. Little Jerry (to the right) had time to sharpen some tools and is a great asset on rainy days too as he keeps our tools in good order.

I was thinking about how much earlier plants seem to be blooming (on average) each year and recalled an article that I read over the winter. I found the small article, entitled "Spring Comes Earlier", in Science Illustrated (Jan.-Feb 2010, pg. 61) and thought there were some interesting similarities described. This article mentions Europe's 78 International Phenological Gardens (IPG) that are located around Europe with genetically identical trees and shrubs. Coordinated by Humboldt University in Berlin, dates have been recorded for over 40 years regarding when these plants bud, blossom and lose their leaves. See http://star.arm.ac.uk/nci/docs/Instructions-IPG.pdf for more information on the IPG program. Regardless, they determined that between 1959 and 1996, the growing season has lengthened by almost 11 days, "a trend confirmed in other locations across the world..." Follow-up data has indicated that spring is coming earlier at a rate of 2.5 days per decade. The article wraps up by saying that "if the trend continues, an earlier onset of spring and a longer growing season could alter interactions between plants and animals in these ecosystems, which could change competition between species and allow new pathogens to move in." Implications? Seems obvious to me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy seeing these daffodils below a little earlier than usual though... We had a small crew today as mentioned above. Jerry also did some work outside between raindrops; including dealing with major shoreline path work due to some over-diligent muskrats. Dr. Gredler ran a load to the dump and will return tomorrow. We also saw Rose, Urban and Rod over here today. We're still processing incoming daisies (see bottom photo) and are waiting on about ten more to arrive (hopefully soon). Once these daisies are out in the garden, visitors will be able to pick up a handout that maps out their locations and gives some information on each entry. Should be a nice twist out in the gardens and we'll place them around the gardens in prominent locations.

My younger daughter (10) has essentially the same digital camera as I do (CANON Powershot) and we've been practicing our flower close-ups recently. We had some decent luck with some Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) as seen to the left and right with the standard blue and white ('Alba') respectively. These early bloomers will finish in a week or so and while quite small (6" tall with .5" flowers), they have impact en masse. It is so nice that our little one is in to plants and gardening although it never "took" with her older sister (19). I think just the exposure to the garden for every child is essential and can lead to a lifelong appreciation of nature, conservation, wildlife and of course plants in general. One of our primary "target audiences" here at the gardens are the children. The digital camera we gave our daughter for her birthday has been a wonderful tool for observation and perhaps we have an aspiring professional photographer. Check out her close-up below of Norway maple (Acer platanoides) flowers. Maple flowers, while fairly small, are quite beautiful. Take time to enjoy the details out in the garden (not just weeds!).