14,876 Brush Strokes

There was a lot of painting going on today as evidenced in these first two photos. My estimate on the # of brush strokes may actually be very conservative. Dr. Gredler, on the left, has been working on our obelisks for over a month now (not just the one you see there!) and his latest color conversion involves this bright lime (which shows up great out in the gardens). In the distance are some of the wood tone, taller obelisks that will receive another coat of sealant of some sort. Rose, to the right, was painting the first set of Adirondack chairs that will go out in the new "North Point Garden" this spring. Her husband Urban was helping and Vern was in to assist and work on his desk sanding project. What you would notice with a closer look at Dr. Gredler and Rose is a "paint history" of their recent endeavors on their clothes! The Adirondack chairs will be quite bright with the other three sets (seen below) getting similarly bright colors. Our talented carpenters put these together in short order and they will be a well-used feature out in the gardens proper.
Bill and Larry were outside most of the day bringing in cords from the Holiday Lights Show and Urban spent a bit of time pruning as well. We also saw Mike M., Rod, Mary D. and many others as well. I spent almost the entire day on seed orders and made significant progress. I'm almost up to 500 varieties of annuals and will shift focus to some of our plant sale offerings like tomatoes, peppers, basil, squash, etc. In past years, I've been done by now with seed ordering but we have a lot on our plate this year and are working on many projects and programs. Winter months are not slow by any stretch! We have three confirmed workshops (container planting, stained glass projects and scarf dyeing with natural materials) that will be finalized shortly. Stay in the loop!

Make sure your calendars have the evening of February 23rd (6 pm - 8 pm) marked off for the lecture on Woody Plants at the RBG Parker Education Center. Dave Wanninger, of Beaver Creek Nursery (Poplar Grove, IL) will be our speaker. Dave has spoken at two of our previous symposia and is a highly sought after speaker throughout the Midwest for his plant knowledge. For those that have heard Dave speak, they would agree that no one ever sleeps thru his talks as they are #1) very interesting and informative and #2) Dave's presentation style is "high energy". Dave is extremely knowledgeable about a wide range of trees and shrubs and will be talking about his favorites as well as those he feels are both high impact and low maintenance. Bring your questions for Dave as well. Dave lives in Janesville (only two blocks from me) and has a fabulous yard too. Remember that RBG members are admitted free, with a $5 donation fee for all others. With such a great turnout at our first lecture (Moss Gardening), we expect another great showing at this "don't miss" lecture. Consider becoming a member of RBG and take advantage of all the benefits; including the August 4th Members Only bus trip (on our website).