A New Blanket Delivered

A new blanket of snow descended on our area over the past 24 hours giving us a nice 5-7" blanket of white. We have taken full advantage of the recent lack of snow to get out in the gardens to take down and process the Holiday Lights Show. However, that same lack of snow was very concerning as our "insulating blanket" was gone and extreme cold can create some significant soil freezing (and subsequent heaving) that may adversely impact our collections. Snow, as an insulator of the soil, protects the soil from alternating freezing and thawing as it has quite a bit of air space which helps with that blanketing effect. While I grumbled about shoveling snow last night, I was happy to see Mother Nature return a new blanket for us. Snow melt in late winter is what helps green up our gardens and gives a good start to the spring "surge." I was just reading that snow has been called "the poor man's fertilizer" as it also deposits (along with rain) small amounts of nitrogen and sulfur in our gardens. The amount is fairly small (2-12 lbs. per acre annually) but does offer some benefit.

To the right and left are some images of Little Jerry who has retired from his grounds position but will continue to help at RBG as a volunteer as his time and health allows. I've included a description of Jerry that was to go in a future newsletter below:

Affectionately know as "Little Jerry" or "Muskrat", Gerald Wilson started as a volunteer at the gardens back in 2000. After taking the Master Gardener course, Jerry became more involved as a volunteer and actually contributed a standing record of 2,000+ volunteer hours in one year. He was hired on as grounds staff in 2004 with the primary duty of maintaining the Japanese Garden which was always an interest of his. In his previous life, Jerry was a design draftsman at Beloit Corp for 30 years and also worked as a taxidermist. He received his nickname "Muskrat" after disposing of a dead muskrat at RBG and then almost every other animal carcass found at RBG over the years. His hobbies include fishing, photography and painting. Jerry is married with three adult children, five grandkids and four great granchildren. Jerry is a top notch pruner with an eye for detail and his duties have expanded well beyond the Japanese Garden and include tool sharpening (see to the left), mowing, etc.

Jerry has been a great asset at RBG and we wish him the best. We're sure we'll see him often as we always have his little chocolate donuts on hand at the Horticulture Center (don't tell his wife!). For those that know Jerry, we'll be having an appreciation luncheon for him at 11:30 am on Thursday, January 27th at the Parker Education Center. The main dish will be provided but we ask that attendees bring a salad or side dish. Please RSVP with Polly at (608) 752-3885 [ext. 16] if you will be attending or have questions. I'm also collecting small donations for a gift if you are interested.

I spent the day finishing a presentation on annuals that I'll give next Wednesday night in Milton, WI and started another significant seed order. We've already received two orders of seeds and will process them tomorrow. Larry and Bill took care of the snow removal around the building and in the gardens while Dick H. came and plowed out our parking lot. Dr. Gredler was here converting small obelisks from pink to lavender and Maury came in to work on some projects, get some fuel and bring supplies. We also saw Mary, Jim H. and Big John over here today. Tonight is our "Volunteer Soup Event" that is the first of three that have been organized to get our volunteers together socially but to also talk about our 2011 plans. I'll also do a little ditty ("slide show") of some of the neat gardens I saw in Philadelphia. The next two soup events are February 17th and March 16th where I'll talk not only about RBG but will feature "Gardens of Los Angeles" and "Gardens of New York City" respectively. We had some good meetings today and are excited about our events and educational opportunities for 2011. I'll blog about our workshops (cooking classes, stained glass, pruning, container planting) as they are finalized.