Our Executive Director, Kelli (seen to the left), brought in two cakes today for our volunteers, both of which featured Peeps. As I type, I believe the cake with the "pink chick" Peeps has been consumed with the "yellow bunny Peep cake" slated for a Tuesday endeavor. Peep
s were first introduced in 1954 and there are now over 1 billion peeps made each year with 700 million of those consumed around Easter. I told Kelli about "Peep wars" that utilize two peeps, two toothpicks and a microwave....nevermind. Kelli has brought in all sorts of goodies and our volunteers certainly appreciate it. Marv also brought in his apple/cherry pie that was a big hit as well. While today did feature Peeps, there was no shortage of colorful blossoms out in the gardens and many tasks and activities. The heat this weekend, continuing thru this week, certainly gave a boost to many bulbs including the daffodils (Narcisssus) which are blooming strongly throughout the gardens. Marv and Terry hauled out our blue pyramids to the entrance gardens slope (see to the left) and secured two in place. One was damaged in transit and once repair
s are final, it will join the others and provide interest and color in our yellow/blue theme for 2011. These are the slanted pyramids that were designed to accomodate the slope of our entrance garden. Marv and Terry also continued filling containers and worked on some other tasks as well. Larry helped with our culvert planter installation this mornin
g and can be seen in the picture below of our endloader (with Larry tucked inside) hauling one of the five, large, 24" diameter culverts. We had plenty of help with setting these in in their pre-dug holes (courtesy of Pat and Maury) and had Ron, Rollie, Dick P., Dick H., Maury and Pat helping get these set (see to the right). Del and Bob C. worked on some woodchipping of mulched tree circles and the carpenters (Dave, Jim, Bob A. and Vern) continued on benches, pyramid repair and are sizing up fence replacement for the Japanese garden once the waterfall and stream restoration is complete. Urban finished pruning his last crabapple (Malus sp.) in the arboretum and Dr. Gredler worked on the lawns most of the day. Joe (new Grumpy) and Bob T. continued their air edging project and are doing a fine job. Marianne was back in full force and did her usual top notch job tidying up the entrance garden which unfortunately included hundreds of carelessly and rudely dispersed cigarette butts from a weekend rental. This is becoming an issue and I am continually disheartened by those that show little consideration by doing things like that. UGH! (read frustration in to that!). Thanks to Marianne for cleaning up and putting together her inaugural cutting display. Janice continued her clean-up efforts, attended meetings and accomplished some composting while Big John continued mulching a vast area in the children's garden and had time to water many of our yard plants that didn't receive the rain we thought we'd get over the weekend. We also had a meeting of our Horticulture Therapy Committee which included Kelli, Mike M., Janice, Karen B., Darcie, Art and myself. We also saw Rose and many others over at the Horticulture Center. Rose will be doing more high quality painting for us very shortly.
s are final, it will join the others and provide interest and color in our yellow/blue theme for 2011. These are the slanted pyramids that were designed to accomodate the slope of our entrance garden. Marv and Terry also continued filling containers and worked on some other tasks as well. Larry helped with our culvert planter installation this mornin
g and can be seen in the picture below of our endloader (with Larry tucked inside) hauling one of the five, large, 24" diameter culverts. We had plenty of help with setting these in in their pre-dug holes (courtesy of Pat and Maury) and had Ron, Rollie, Dick P., Dick H., Maury and Pat helping get these set (see to the right). Del and Bob C. worked on some woodchipping of mulched tree circles and the carpenters (Dave, Jim, Bob A. and Vern) continued on benches, pyramid repair and are sizing up fence replacement for the Japanese garden once the waterfall and stream restoration is complete. Urban finished pruning his last crabapple (Malus sp.) in the arboretum and Dr. Gredler worked on the lawns most of the day. Joe (new Grumpy) and Bob T. continued their air edging project and are doing a fine job. Marianne was back in full force and did her usual top notch job tidying up the entrance garden which unfortunately included hundreds of carelessly and rudely dispersed cigarette butts from a weekend rental. This is becoming an issue and I am continually disheartened by those that show little consideration by doing things like that. UGH! (read frustration in to that!). Thanks to Marianne for cleaning up and putting together her inaugural cutting display. Janice continued her clean-up efforts, attended meetings and accomplished some composting while Big John continued mulching a vast area in the children's garden and had time to water many of our yard plants that didn't receive the rain we thought we'd get over the weekend. We also had a meeting of our Horticulture Therapy Committee which included Kelli, Mike M., Janice, Karen B., Darcie, Art and myself. We also saw Rose and many others over at the Horticulture Center. Rose will be doing more high quality painting for us very shortly. 
The two images above show the significant progress that has occurred recently in the Japanese garden and North Point garden respectively. In the Japanese garden, the waterfall and stream have been totally removed and the next step will be determining the scope and scale of the rebuilt system which will now include a lower pond. We debated on an und
erground reservoir at the base of the stream but realized that the fluctuating water levels in the big pond could adversely affect a closed system like that and create havoc with any flooding. A lower pool will be an attractive feature and have the capability of being totally cleaned and repaired easily if needed. We are currently on track to see this up
grade completed before Mother's Day. The work on the North Point bluestone patio continues with steel edging being positioned and the start of the bluestone being set today. Once the patio is set, we'll get in there with other garden elements that will also include irrigation. I'm also close to selecting a contractor to accomplish some of our shoreline stabilization with native plants. Without a doubt, this is the busiest spring in recent memory but the weather has been cooperative and
progress is evident daily. Pictured are two more hellebores in full bloom in the woodland walk garden. To the above right is 'Mellow Yellow' hellebore (Helleborus x hybridus) which I hope will show more yellow yet this year or in the future (it sure doesn't look like he pictures!) and to the left is the deep blue/maroon color of 'Blue Lady' hellebore (Helleborus x hybridus). I'm very smitten with the hellebores this year but again, the drooping nature of the blooms hides some of the flower charm unless you tilt them up a bit or are viewing them from a lower angle. Modern breeding and selection is targeting hellebores with more upright flowers for that exact reason. To the right are some garden hyacinths (Hyacinthus) that are starting to bloom around the gardens and add their fragrant charms. We planted many of these years ago and those that keep returning are in the soils that are not overly damp because of our summer irrigation program. Years ago we did a display of garden hyacinths and featured over 80 varieties. Now that was a fragrant spring!!! The mosaic birdhouse workshop went very well on Saturday with eight attendees that I was told, enjoyed the experience immensely (see below). Facilitated by Pixie from the Glass Garden, LLC in Janesville, participants decorated and personalized their own creations and Janice popped in to make sure everything was ok. Janice is quite a stained glass artist herself and has given me some neat items for the office and home garden. The second Saturday of the compost sale went quite well and we are promoting our upcoming events strongly. These include the Perennial Division seminar on April 20th (6 pm -8 pm) by Becky Nickel at the Parker Education Center (free for RBG members, $5 for the public) and our big Tree Sale / Earth Day activities on April 22 and 23. See our website for more info.
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