Rainy & "Cool"

We had some rain overnight and sporadically throughout the day today. With the rain came some nice cooling weather with highs in the upper 60 degrees F today. I'm happy for the rain but we'll see a major crop of weeds emerging next week for sure. With lots of plants emerging, like the primrose (Primula sp., unknown variety) directly above, the weeds will certainly take advantage of the advanced spring as well. The turkeys above (top photo) were working the periphery of the gardens this morning and when I took this shot, they were doing some speed walking on our Janesville portion of the Ice Age Trail just across Palmer Drive from RBG. I don't think they understand lane designations but the males were sure puffing out and showing off for the ladies when I got closer. To the right are the flower structures of the plantain-leaf sedge (Carex plantaginea) which is native to WI and a wide range of the Eastern United States. I like this grass-relative for its ornamental characteristics and many of our other sedges (Carex sp.) are blooming as well. To the left are the blooms of the Snow Fountains weeping cherry (Prunus hybrida 'Snofozam') which is one of the few that has been long-lived in the gardens. All cherries and plums (Prunus sp.) are blooming now which of course is quite early.

While Fridays in March are typically quiet, we had a nice turnout of volunteers today. To the right is the project Kay has been working on and she was at it again today. These are the labels for the plant sale plants that Janice and Cindi have been preparing for processing. We're essentially printing out 144 individual labels (three flats of 48 plants each) for all of our vegetable varieties. These labels are then torn, separated and will ultimately end up inserted in every cell of the returning plants. Some of these labels are tough to tear and Kay has a creative way to "tease" them out of there. Incidentally, the 'Red Rocoto' hot pepper (Capsicum) listed on these featured labels is a popular and unique pepper that is about 1" in size and packs some decent heat (30,000 Scoville Heat Units, SHU). Check out www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org and click on the Spring Plant Sale under our Events section and see all our plant lists. Rose and Dr. Gredler were in for some painting projects and were later joined by Marv. Marianne came in the office to process many of the new perennial labels that Luis made this week and was out in the gardens as well inventorying some of our labeling and relabeling needs. Pat M. went on a road trip to pick up a massive rental screen that we'll use for the Spring Symposium tomorrow. It took Big John, Pat, Mark S., Gary and I to get it set up! UGH. Jumbo Jim came in with three RECAPPERS and the guys did a great job tidying up in the Japanese garden. We hope some of our symposium attendees can dodge the raindrops tomorrow and wander through the gardens. Janice was in to help with symposium preparations and we also saw Urban, Dick H., Dave G. and many others today. Directly below are the "poised blooms" of the Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) which should be in full bloom by next week. I sure like the looks of the redbud including the white flowering forms. Unfortunately we can't grow the colorful leaved varieties (variegated, maroon, golden, etc.). We've tried them all to no avail. I think it's simply a hardiness issue.

Directly above are more bloodroots (Sanguinaria canadensis) emerging and blooming. Our woodland walk garden has a nice collection of woodland wildflowers that are all looking pretty good. Temperatures next week look to include highs around 70 degrees with evenings in the 40 degrees F. I'm not sure this will slow down the gardens much but we'll adjust as needed. I hope to get some sunny days for Round-Up application on garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and some other troublesome weeds. To the right is a row of Golden Peep forsythias (Forsythia x intermedia 'Courdijau') that was planted last year along this narrow border along the Japanese garden fenceline. We'll let these fill out and then keep them sheared. These are very bud hardy and have full coverage for blooms which is a lot better than the over-used "Bronx" forsythia (Forsythia viridissima 'Bronxensis') that has variable flower coverage depending on the severity of winter and snow levels. To the left is another pretty hyacinth (Hyacinthus) out in the gardens. While many plants are promoted as "fragrant", I think we all know that scent is subjective and not everyone prefers certain fragrances. However, I think there would be few that wouldn't enjoy some wafting fragrance of garden hyacinth and only one bloom can perfume the entire floor of a residence. In the same family as garden hyacinths are the grape hyacinths (Muscari). To the right is another nice species of grape hyacinth (Muscari latifolium) which is thought to be the largest in the genus with a height around 12" or so. Native to the pine forests in Turkey, this species in known for the two tone color effect which can be seen in the flower in the distance to the left. The dark violet flowers down low are fertile while the upper flowers are lighter violet and are sterile. We have many large groupings of this fall-planted bulb in our woodland walk garden. This species is quite popular and is offered at our Fall Plant Sale in September.

Further below are some more daffodils (Narcissus) which are quite prevalent throughout the gardens. The bottom photo shows the severe slope that looms above the gazebo garden. Years ago, we received a sizeable donation of daffodils very late in the season (November). I think we received 30,000 or so of many mixed varieties. We bagged them up in groups of 25 bulbs and I went up this slope and a good portion of the slope along our north path with blue flags. The Grumpies followed behind and planted a clump where I placed every flag. The results are quite striking and will only get better with time. I'll try to share some photos from the Spring Symposium tomorrow over the weekend.