One Day Later...

Well, the snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) that I featured yesterday are living up to their namesake by blooming right thru the mushy snow that we received today. They clustered tighter together for protection but were resolute with their desire to tough it out. The picture above is the same clump that I photographed in bloom yesterday. Madison got quite a bit more snow and we were fortunate that it wasn't too severe in our area. Snow in March isn't unusual but it is nice to see the gradual warming of both days and nights and the increased day length. The picture to the right shows one of the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) trees over near the Horticulture Center that caught my eye this morning with the snow accenting those architectural branches.

I spent more time in the Parker Education Center today then I have in many months. We had a very productive Education Committee Meeting (Mary D., Bev, Jane, Dave, Chris, Julie and our new Director, Kelli). We talked about the upcoming events, activities, etc. and I'm quite happy with the progress we've achieved in maintaining our educational programs here at the gardens. The Youth Education Committee met shortly thereafter but I had another brief meeting that led in to afternoon interviews (accomplished with Kelli) for the Education Coordinator position. It was nice to have four qualified candidates apply and we'll move quickly to get that position filled ASAP.

Larry and Bill worked on various indoor projects and Dave T. came in to continue working on some carpentry projects (memorial benches I believe). Dick H. stopped by and Dr. Gredler came in to help Kay with her label processing project (see directly below). Janice produces these labels and they all need to be peeled, separated and organized so they're ready to be inserted in all the incoming vegetables that we'll see in 8.5 weeks! Mary W. was in and Gary came in to continue "fine tuning" our laser engraving system. He's doing a nice job streamlining our processes/protocols so we can make sure we keep our data entry and storage consistent even with multiple users. He and Jenny will be the primary "data entry specialists" although we may add more as needed. We also saw Jumbo Jim, Maury, Bev D., and some others as well. It was a crummy day to be outside but lots of indoor projects, of which there is no shortage, continue to be checked off the list. I'm speaking at the Chicago Flower Show (www.chicagoflower.com/) tomorrow on the topic of "Ornamental Edibles in Containers" and my parents, who live in the Chicago suburbs, will be coming to heckle me (and hopefully buy lunch). I'll be travelling up with Ed Lyon, Dave Wanninger and John Beutel. Should be fun. Friday I head off the Michigan (Grand Haven) as I have two presentations on Saturday morning for the West Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association (crowd of 300). My topics will be "Ornamental Edibles" and "Foliage Perennials". I spoke in MI last year and really enjoyed meeting new people and hopefully encouraging some bus trips to Janesville! I enjoyed my two years working at Fernwood Botanic Garden (Niles, MI) before coming to Janesville and have travelled and enjoyed much of Michigan. I'll take my younger daughter as she likes to stay at hotels with swimming pools! Although she's not so fond of hearing dad talk about plants...

Below are some more images from our late winter day. Directly below is a shot across the bridge in the fern & moss garden looking over to the hosta hollow. This isn't too far from where the snowdrop pictures were taken. Whether it's snow or rain this time of year, I don't mind the moisture for the gardens. At the bottom is one of our evergreen, variegated Japanese sedges (Carex morrowii 'Goldband') that still looks good but will still produce new growth in a couple months. I'm not sure what my blogging shedule will be but will try to keep up. For those RBG volunteers that read this blog (all three of you!), don't forget the volunteer soup dinner next Wednesday night, March 16th from 5 pm until 7 pm. Should be fun and I'll show some neat images of gardens I saw in New York City back in October of 2010. Call Lori to RSVP ASAP.