I was able to get out in the gardens for a nice length of time today and while the gardens are still fairly dormant, the
re are signs of life here and there. The nice green moss clump seen above is in the fern & moss garden. Moss loves this weather and is greening up nicely. I was sizing up our two big construction projects this year; the North Point garden installation and the Japanese garden waterfall/rebuild project. This Japanese garden project has been something we've wanted to do for almost a decade and it will be nice to restore this water feature to its original grandeur. Some guys (DWG Landscaping) were already here starting to excavate at the North Point garden for the future bluestone patio. This garden w
ill include all sorts of neat things and we hope to complete our installation of plants, irrigation and turf before June if possible. There has already been interest in using this site for small weddings...! We hope to see significant progress on both projects over the next four weeks or so and will assist as needed. Today, I had some meetings, met with our irrigation guy and finished some other projects that have been on the "hot plate" for awhile. I feel very distanced from the gardens as I've been doing so much work from my little office corner over the past four months and rarely see sunshine. This has all been vital work (education, ordering, plant records, etc.) but I need to reconnect quickly with our garden needs as our volunteers are trickling back and the bulk of the grounds staff starts back to work next week. Above and to the left are some of Marv's clubmosses that still look good on our moss island and more winter aconites (
Eranthis hyemalis) to the right in the hosta hollow garden. Below is the Christmas rose (
Hellborus niger) in bloom in the white color room garden. I show this plant every year as I'm always happy to see the early, clear white blooms.
Dr. Gredler was in to continue his debris clean-up with the mower. He's going over most of our lawns, collecting leaves and debris from last year. The gardens are becoming tidier and tidier each day. Pat
was in to continue his sign conversions and is doing a darn nice job on getting four huge signs completed to help promote our tree sale (April 22 and 23, check the website!). Dick H. continued repairs on one of our trucks and Urban popped in to talk strategy as it relates to rose cutting and removal activities tomorrow. Gary was in to run more perennial signs and we're now, after printing out our fern labels, moving on to the daylily collection. Jenny came in to print off our thousands of annual sticker labels that we'll use in our
old-fashioned aluminum stake format. Ultimately our new laser engraver will create these labels too but it's not realistic for this year. Gary and Steve (our consultant) fixed our "bug" with the engraver and all seems well. We had a nice group lunch today and also saw Marv, Marianne, Janice, Big John and Terry. At the Horticulture Center, we also saw Ray, Mary W., Dave, Dean, Chris and many others. Larry was off today but we'll see him tomorrow. Our obelisks (above left) await final placement in the coming weeks and to the right is a hellebore (
Helleborus hybridus) starting to bloom in the gazebo garden. Below is one of the many ducks that are joined by many geese in the gardens this time of year. Nesting season for the geese can get touchy with the occasional scuffle with visitors. Oh well. More winter aconite (
Eranthis hyemalis) below.
I was able to get out in the gardens for a nice length of time today and while the gardens are still fairly dormant, the
re are signs of life here and there. The nice green moss clump seen above is in the fern & moss garden. Moss loves this weather and is greening up nicely. I was sizing up our two big construction projects this year; the North Point garden installation and the Japanese garden waterfall/rebuild project. This Japanese garden project has been something we've wanted to do for almost a decade and it will be nice to restore this water feature to its original grandeur. Some guys (DWG Landscaping) were already here starting to excavate at the North Point garden for the future bluestone patio. This garden w
ill include all sorts of neat things and we hope to complete our installation of plants, irrigation and turf before June if possible. There has already been interest in using this site for small weddings...! We hope to see significant progress on both projects over the next four weeks or so and will assist as needed. Today, I had some meetings, met with our irrigation guy and finished some other projects that have been on the "hot plate" for awhile. I feel very distanced from the gardens as I've been doing so much work from my little office corner over the past four months and rarely see sunshine. This has all been vital work (education, ordering, plant records, etc.) but I need to reconnect quickly with our garden needs as our volunteers are trickling back and the bulk of the grounds staff starts back to work next week. Above and to the left are some of Marv's clubmosses that still look good on our moss island and more winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) to the right in the hosta hollow garden. Below is the Christmas rose (Hellborus niger) in bloom in the white color room garden. I show this plant every year as I'm always happy to see the early, clear white blooms. 
was in to continue his sign conversions and is doing a darn nice job on getting four huge signs completed to help promote our tree sale (April 22 and 23, check the website!). Dick H. continued repairs on one of our trucks and Urban popped in to talk strategy as it relates to rose cutting and removal activities tomorrow. Gary was in to run more perennial signs and we're now, after printing out our fern labels, moving on to the daylily collection. Jenny came in to print off our thousands of annual sticker labels that we'll use in our
old-fashioned aluminum stake format. Ultimately our new laser engraver will create these labels too but it's not realistic for this year. Gary and Steve (our consultant) fixed our "bug" with the engraver and all seems well. We had a nice group lunch today and also saw Marv, Marianne, Janice, Big John and Terry. At the Horticulture Center, we also saw Ray, Mary W., Dave, Dean, Chris and many others. Larry was off today but we'll see him tomorrow. Our obelisks (above left) await final placement in the coming weeks and to the right is a hellebore (Helleborus hybridus) starting to bloom in the gazebo garden. Below is one of the many ducks that are joined by many geese in the gardens this time of year. Nesting season for the geese can get touchy with the occasional scuffle with visitors. Oh well. More winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) below. 
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