We were warned that there was a chance of snow this week and weren't surprised by the layer of wet snow around the gardens this morning. It only amounted to 1/2" or so. As I type (2 pm or so), everything has melted off and I should say that the gardens lo
oked neat with the snow and we saw a photographer out early in the gardens getting some shots. Above are a 'Northern Gold' forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia) and Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) respectively with some temporary snow cover. I will say that the rain didn't "dampen" (pun intended) the dedication of the grounds staff and volunteers that headed out in to the garden
s, a day after it was sunny and quite mild at 55 degrees F. Marv and Terry fueled up all the vehicles and continued placing obelisks out in the gardens. They secured the third blue pyramid (recently repaired) in the entrance garden and also prepared two large containers near the Horticulture Center. One is a huge plastic pot (for vegetables) and the other is our last section of culvert pipe (see Terry to the right) that we'll leave looking like this. Now that's industrial. To the left are just some of the garden hyacinths (Hyacinthus) around the gardens that peaked out of the snow and I al
so still caught fragrance from these at 34 degrees F this morning. Marianne helped in the office this morning and did a nice job putting together the tree sale price guides for our volunteers. Marianne also freshened up her cutting display and is working on getting some new daylily (Hemerocallis) labels out in the gardens. Larry helped the Grumpies this morning and will be shifting to the major task of getting our w
ater features up and running around the gardens. Janice helped prepare materials for the tree sale and other upcoming events. She also has a big project ahead of her as we had a wonderful donation of 161 gardening/horticulture books for our reference library that we have to enter in to our system. Big John was here for a half day and got muddy fairly fast. He removed some arborvitaes (Thuja sp.) and dug up some perennials that we'll be using at the Perennial Division seminar this Wednesday evening (6 pm - 8 pm). John has some pruning and excavation projects for later in the week. With the snowy/damp lawns, we tried to limit most gardening work from path access so as to avoid damaging the lawns. To the right is prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) in the alpine garden and also shown are some tulips (Tulipa) and more hyacinths, making the best of a snow day! 
We had a nice turnout of Grumpies this morning as well. Rollie, Bob C. and Urban went out to remove a vast area of carpet juniper (Juniperus sp.) that had severe winter damage and has always looked less than spectacular. Larry helped them finish up and we'll have to come up with something else to plant in this newly vacated area. Pat and Dick P. worked on asssembling cardboard flats for our plant sale and Pat moved on to some painting later on in the morning. Dave, Jim, Vern and Bob A. kept working on benches, Japanese fence repair and are fixing some "art boards" that will be used for our Art & Wine event on May 13th (6 pm - 9 pm). Maury ran out for all sorts of supplies and met with Dick P. and Tom C. regarding some electrical issues (Tom's forte') that we have to deal with at both buildings. Dr. Gredler was here to mow later in the day. We also saw our new maintenance guy Peter over here as well as Del, Jumbo Jim, Kelli and many others. Bev and Deb were also around to create the information signs that will go out with the butterfly art projects yet this spring. Below is the pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) that I featured last week. It should rebound in short order! 
Kelli and I met with the extended Gutmann family this morning regarding a memorial for both their parents. Dr. Gutmann passed away about 1 year ago (his wife, 13 years ago) and was a huge fan and supporter of the gardens. He 
was also a very talented artist and we have some of his RBG-themed artwork here at the gardens. We've had so many wonderful people involved with the gardens. I spent most of the day working on preparations for this busy week 
that includes the Wednesday night seminar (mentioned above), Earth Day events and the Tree Sale (both of which occur this Friday and Saturday). To the left is our prairie which looked pretty cool this morning. We're not having it burned this spring by the City Parks Dept. as it would have been done already. We try to alternate years and perhaps will have time this year to address some of the weed issues. Look at the geese on top of our visitors center this morning to the right! They sure have the "birds eye" view. A double pun blog. Awesome. 
was also a very talented artist and we have some of his RBG-themed artwork here at the gardens. We've had so many wonderful people involved with the gardens. I spent most of the day working on preparations for this busy week 
that includes the Wednesday night seminar (mentioned above), Earth Day events and the Tree Sale (both of which occur this Friday and Saturday). To the left is our prairie which looked pretty cool this morning. We're not having it burned this spring by the City Parks Dept. as it would have been done already. We try to alternate years and perhaps will have time this year to address some of the weed issues. Look at the geese on top of our visitors center this morning to the right! They sure have the "birds eye" view. A double pun blog. Awesome. 
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