Seed Ordering Complete

I finally finished my seed ordering today and it looks like we'll have close to 700 varieties of seed grown annuals this year (our second most ever). The timing, although later than usual, is perfect for organizing the remainder of our orders and getting them distributed out to the greenhouses next week. I was able to locate some additional fragrant plants for our "Smelly Garden" this year and added a couple more marigolds to our collection. I actually have had to stop ordering marigold varieties as we'll already be stretched to feature about 180 selections that I've found and I keep running across additional varieties....


We had some icy rain last night that turned in to a light snow that put a nice dusting on everything. The roads were slippery this morning but salting and some warming temperatures have made travel a bit safer later today. The shot to the left is the dwarf Himalayan pine (Pinus wallichiana 'Nana') which is a fine-textured, "five needled" pine that caught my eye this morning as I went over the the Parker Education Center for a meeting. Ornamental grasses (those not crushed by previous snowfalls) and conifers are still looking pretty good and continue to add interest despite the lack of flower power that should appear in five to six weeks.

The image to the right is the golden mugo pine (Pinus mugo 'Aurea') that has a nice gold coloration in winter that will become brighter in March, April and May and then fade to a green by mid-summer. Marv pointed out weeks ago that snowfall balled up neatly on top of this specimen in front of our visitors center so I caught a shot today. This specimen is getting large so we may consider moving it this spring or in a year at the latest.

Kay came in to continue her work on plant sale labels and Janice was in to work on her plant sale informational signs and spent time with Big John preparing for their talk on "The Right Tool for the Right Job" that will be held on March 3rd at the Parker Education Center ( 7 pm - 8 pm) and is the first of six seminars offered by the Rock Prairie Master Gardener Association (RPMGA). They'll be demonstrating the use of various garden tools that we utilize and recommend. RPMGA and RBG members are free with all others asked for a $5 donation. Dr. Gredler and Pat were in painting obelisks again and we also saw Mary W., Marv, Marianne, Urban, Bill, Bev D. and others over here today. The next photo down shows some snow on a dwarf white fir (Abies concolor) although I can't recall the variety right now. Neat powder blue needles though....The bottom photo is a mosaic birdhouse that is the end result of a workshop that will be offered at RBG on April 9th (limited to 15 registrants). See our website soon for details or give me a call.