Today was another nice sunny day with temperatures in the mid 60 degrees F. Lots of blooms are opening up including the pasque flower (
Pulsatilla vulgaris) seen above in the alpine garden. I'm sure a big fan of these flowers and the half dozen or so in the alpine garden really steal the show with "fuzzy" emerging flowers, stems and leaves. I show these every year when they bloom! I had four meetings to
day and didn't get outside as much as I would have liked. I did check in with the contractors in the Japanese and North Point gardens and continue to be pleased with the progress of both projects. I also took time to tou
r the gardens with Becky Nickel, her husband John and their grandson Daniel. Becky is giving the talk on
Perennial Division next Wednesday evening, April 20th, from 6 pm - 8 pm. We went thru the gardens and marked some perennials that we'll dig for this demonstration. There will also be some "freebies" for all participants! To the right and left are some of our earliest, species tulips and they are taking advantage of the sun and heat. I've seen them bloom this early before (last year in fact!) so I don't feel we're too much off track if we have another cool down to slow things up. Universally, our earliest tulips blooming right now are in the "hot spots" near paths, rocks, sidewalks, etc. Big John worked on cutting back a huge planting of shrub roses and we're
trying a scoop of worm castings around each plant to give them a "boost" as growth emerges shortly. John also removed some suckering shrubs and moved to composting beds near the gazebo garden. Janice continued he
r clean-up efforts north of the shade garden as there is no shortage of debris and other early duties in many garden locations. Jenny continued her tidy work in the woodland walk which is really starting to show some nice early spring color. Bill O. was in to tidy up around the culvert pipe installation areas from yesterday that had lots of poor soil piled up from the original hole excavation on Monday. Larry worked on cleaning up debris from 26 stumps that were ground out yesterday. He also removed some signs to be repaired and helped with some other smaller projects. Dick P. (above and to the right) and Dick H. worked on installing the new gate thr
ough the 'Dialogue' sculpture and will have to come up with some creative anchoring to secure this properly. We start charging admissions this Friday. To the left are a couple of the wind flowers (
Anemone blanda 'Blue Shades') blooming in the front entrance garden. We planted 5,000 of these last fall so they should have a nice effect before our 5,000 yellow tulips (three shades) take over in early May (or sooner...). With inevitable cooler temperatures on the horizon, I'm worried that perennials like the primrose (
Primula sp.) to the right may suffer a bit. However, it sure looked happy today along the shoreline of the Japanese garden. Speaking of the Japanese garden, Todd (Nature's Touch) and I finalized some plans for the new lower pool in the new Japanese waterfall/stream system and I think we have a good plan of attack and we'll see some continued excavation very shortly. Below is Barb C. who was set up to run UWEX diagnostics at the gardens. It's nice to see this feature/offering again at the gardens although it was a bit slow today for her. We appreciate all the RPMGA (Rock Prairie Master Gardener Association) members / Master Gardener volunteers that help with this garden help desk. We saw quite a few visitors out in the gardens today and tomorrow looks like another nice one. The bottom photo illustrates some unique containers that I've passed by many times (camera-less) on my dog walks not far from my house. Hens & Chicks (
Sempervivum sp.) in old boots? Why not! :)
day and didn't get outside as much as I would have liked. I did check in with the contractors in the Japanese and North Point gardens and continue to be pleased with the progress of both projects. I also took time to tou
r the gardens with Becky Nickel, her husband John and their grandson Daniel. Becky is giving the talk on Perennial Division next Wednesday evening, April 20th, from 6 pm - 8 pm. We went thru the gardens and marked some perennials that we'll dig for this demonstration. There will also be some "freebies" for all participants! To the right and left are some of our earliest, species tulips and they are taking advantage of the sun and heat. I've seen them bloom this early before (last year in fact!) so I don't feel we're too much off track if we have another cool down to slow things up. Universally, our earliest tulips blooming right now are in the "hot spots" near paths, rocks, sidewalks, etc. Big John worked on cutting back a huge planting of shrub roses and we're
trying a scoop of worm castings around each plant to give them a "boost" as growth emerges shortly. John also removed some suckering shrubs and moved to composting beds near the gazebo garden. Janice continued he
r clean-up efforts north of the shade garden as there is no shortage of debris and other early duties in many garden locations. Jenny continued her tidy work in the woodland walk which is really starting to show some nice early spring color. Bill O. was in to tidy up around the culvert pipe installation areas from yesterday that had lots of poor soil piled up from the original hole excavation on Monday. Larry worked on cleaning up debris from 26 stumps that were ground out yesterday. He also removed some signs to be repaired and helped with some other smaller projects. Dick P. (above and to the right) and Dick H. worked on installing the new gate thr
ough the 'Dialogue' sculpture and will have to come up with some creative anchoring to secure this properly. We start charging admissions this Friday. To the left are a couple of the wind flowers (Anemone blanda 'Blue Shades') blooming in the front entrance garden. We planted 5,000 of these last fall so they should have a nice effect before our 5,000 yellow tulips (three shades) take over in early May (or sooner...). With inevitable cooler temperatures on the horizon, I'm worried that perennials like the primrose (Primula sp.) to the right may suffer a bit. However, it sure looked happy today along the shoreline of the Japanese garden. Speaking of the Japanese garden, Todd (Nature's Touch) and I finalized some plans for the new lower pool in the new Japanese waterfall/stream system and I think we have a good plan of attack and we'll see some continued excavation very shortly. Below is Barb C. who was set up to run UWEX diagnostics at the gardens. It's nice to see this feature/offering again at the gardens although it was a bit slow today for her. We appreciate all the RPMGA (Rock Prairie Master Gardener Association) members / Master Gardener volunteers that help with this garden help desk. We saw quite a few visitors out in the gardens today and tomorrow looks like another nice one. The bottom photo illustrates some unique containers that I've passed by many times (camera-less) on my dog walks not far from my house. Hens & Chicks (Sempervivum sp.) in old boots? Why not! :) 
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