Day 2 of the plant sale has gone very well. The morning was quite busy and tapered off to a steady hum in the afternoon. Many of our herbs (pictured abo
ve) and tomatoes have been picked over but a nice assortment remains for our shoppers tomorrow. Once again, Janice and Marianne ran a tight ship and our 30+ volunteers did a great job helping facilitate the sale. Members of the Janesville Area Herb Society have been assisting customers too and their herbal knowledge has most definitely led to increased sales. Dave J., Gary and Gil took turns soliciting plant sale visitors as potential members and did quite well. Larry and Bill worked out around the gardens tidying up for two weddings and we'll have another set of prom kids coming thru the gardens this evening for photos. Big John, Maury and Dave T. were all here volunteering on other tasks as well. To the right are my best helpers of the day. Alex and his sister Sadie came with their grandma Judy, one of our volunteers and the kids helped get out boxes for customers, hauled containers, organized herbs and spaced our petunia flats. They did a nice job and their pay rate (one cookie each) was well worth the hard work. Below is the seed assortment of heirloom cucumbers and gourds that Janice prepared and Margaret organized. We don't make much money on the seeds but are simply excited for people to try them out at home. We had many enquiries about beans as that was a popular seed offering at this sale last year.
Our "beauty and the beast" plant, dame's rocket (
Hesperis matronalis) is blooming right now a
nd sure looks gorgeous along roadsides, woodland edges etc. Of course it is a "vigorous" non-native perennial that has many concerned. Check out
www.dnr.state.wi.us/invasives/fact/dames_rocket.htm for a local WI perspective on this pla
nt. A large patch of dame's rocket is blooming along the edges of the horticulture center so I went out to take some pictures. I knew that flower color could be variable but was surprised to not only see a wide variation of pinks, whites and lavenders but also some "bi-colors" (see below). Weird. Few can contest the beauty but consider this mustard-family relative a thug.
Below is the dark foliage of the black-leaved ligularia (
Ligularia dentata 'Britt Marie Crawford') that is quite bold and looks great in damp, part shade. Yellow-orange daisies will follow in summer but I love this perennial for its durability. Some have warned of a spreading nature but I've not seen that personally. The bottom picture shows a large patch of these perennials used
en masse at the Chicago Botanic Garden although this might be the variety 'Othello' (also with dark leaves). Neat. I'll try to get the summer picture when they are all in bloom.
ve) and tomatoes have been picked over but a nice assortment remains for our shoppers tomorrow. Once again, Janice and Marianne ran a tight ship and our 30+ volunteers did a great job helping facilitate the sale. Members of the Janesville Area Herb Society have been assisting customers too and their herbal knowledge has most definitely led to increased sales. Dave J., Gary and Gil took turns soliciting plant sale visitors as potential members and did quite well. Larry and Bill worked out around the gardens tidying up for two weddings and we'll have another set of prom kids coming thru the gardens this evening for photos. Big John, Maury and Dave T. were all here volunteering on other tasks as well. To the right are my best helpers of the day. Alex and his sister Sadie came with their grandma Judy, one of our volunteers and the kids helped get out boxes for customers, hauled containers, organized herbs and spaced our petunia flats. They did a nice job and their pay rate (one cookie each) was well worth the hard work. Below is the seed assortment of heirloom cucumbers and gourds that Janice prepared and Margaret organized. We don't make much money on the seeds but are simply excited for people to try them out at home. We had many enquiries about beans as that was a popular seed offering at this sale last year.
nd sure looks gorgeous along roadsides, woodland edges etc. Of course it is a "vigorous" non-native perennial that has many concerned. Check out www.dnr.state.wi.us/invasives/fact/dames_rocket.htm for a local WI perspective on this pla
nt. A large patch of dame's rocket is blooming along the edges of the horticulture center so I went out to take some pictures. I knew that flower color could be variable but was surprised to not only see a wide variation of pinks, whites and lavenders but also some "bi-colors" (see below). Weird. Few can contest the beauty but consider this mustard-family relative a thug. 
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