Today was busy with plenty of action around the gardens and at the Horticulture Center. We feel that the 2010 Holiday Lights Show was a success despite the fact that the last two evenings (Dec. 30 & 31) were cancelled because of rain. It would have been tough keeping the lights going with the dampness anyway. We had 5,000+ attendees along with many positive comments. The entire event ran smoothly and we started bringing in lights and displays today (see decorated obelisks above) as the gardens are quite accessible with most of the snow gone. I'm concerned about the loss of our "snow blanket" out in the gardens but Mother Nature should replace it in short order. The benefits of the snow melt include access for takedown of the lights show but the melt down also allows ground-level browsing for our resident deer, keeping them away from our shrubs and tasty evergreens (hopefully).With my long list of "to do" items, I jumped in to many projects today including seed ordering, event preparations (bus tours and evening programs) and started preparing some of my presentations. The majority of my presentation topics in the past have re
volved around annuals and container gardening, however, this spring, I'm doing lots of talks on "ornamental edibles" or those plants that look nice but also have use in the kitchen. We've always incorporated edibles in our schemes at RBG and it is a fun topic. The book to the right, written by Rosalind Creasy almost 30 years ago is the "bible" for this movement which continues to gain popularity as mo
re consumers grow their own vegetables and fit these edibles in to their beds, borders and containers. Look for any book by Rosalind Creasy and you've got some good reading. Speaking of good reading, the seed catalogs look good this year and while I cheated a bit over my vacation and perused about 30 catalogs, I now go thru each one in detail and look for specific varieties for our collections and the spring plant sale. While we have no greenhouses at RBG, we have four generous growers/friends that start all our seeds. Janice has been scouring the catalogs for veggies as well as the squash for our 2011 display. I love going thru the seed catalogs and that "kid in a candy store" adage is entirely appropriate. To the left are just a smidge of the "to be read and ordered from" pile...Marv and Terry went out today and started bringing in all the obelisks for "un-decoration" by Dr. Gredler. Access was as easy as it has ever been after the show and we'll take advantage of this week for sure. Some years we wait until February and March to bri
ng in displays and lights. Urban and Dick H. went out to bring in luminary jugs before they get frozen down again while Larry has been out all day wrapping up the luminary light strings. Bill O. was in to also start taking down lights. Rose (to the right) started the color conversion of the big culvert planters (maroon to pastel blue) while the carpenters (Dave, Jim, Bob A. and Vern) continued on their new projects after finishing the butterfly art projects earlier. Marianne did a great job giving the break room a comprehensive cleaning and Janice was in to continue finalizing our vegetable seed orders (for collections and the plant sale). Maury did some running for us and we also saw Big John, Gary, Chuck S., Little Jerry, Mike (Jerry's son) and Ron W (who was helping over in the gift shop). Jenny came in to continue working on our new labeling system and is currently putting in data regarding the fern collection to be followed shortly by the daylily collection. Lots of busy, but exciting days ahead.
ng in displays and lights. Urban and Dick H. went out to bring in luminary jugs before they get frozen down again while Larry has been out all day wrapping up the luminary light strings. Bill O. was in to also start taking down lights. Rose (to the right) started the color conversion of the big culvert planters (maroon to pastel blue) while the carpenters (Dave, Jim, Bob A. and Vern) continued on their new projects after finishing the butterfly art projects earlier. Marianne did a great job giving the break room a comprehensive cleaning and Janice was in to continue finalizing our vegetable seed orders (for collections and the plant sale). Maury did some running for us and we also saw Big John, Gary, Chuck S., Little Jerry, Mike (Jerry's son) and Ron W (who was helping over in the gift shop). Jenny came in to continue working on our new labeling system and is currently putting in data regarding the fern collection to be followed shortly by the daylily collection. Lots of busy, but exciting days ahead. I've been putting together our evening programs and other assorted opportunities as time allows. As you get your calendars out, don't forget the following dates for our evening programs (6pm-8pm, free for RBG members, $5/each for others, walk-ins welcome). Contact me with any questions...
*January 19th (Moss Gardening with Dale Sievert)
*February 23rd (Woody Plants with Dave Wanninger)
*March 30th (Herbs with Patty Bailey)
*April 20th (Perennial Division with Becky Nickel)
*May 25th (Perennials with Dr. Frank Greer)
*June 15th (Container Gardening with Mark Dwyer)
No comments:
Post a Comment