What Month Is This?

Today was another nice sunny day with temperatures near 50 degrees F. I was able to tour the gardens this morning with a couple of goals in mind. I wanted to look for more plants emerging, deer damage, pruning opportunities and additional spring clean-up needs. The warm weather is bringing in more visitors and I want to tidy up the "rough edges". It's like not vacuuming before you have guests come over! The top photo is a shot of our arched bridge thru the branches of a weeping willow (Salix alba 'Tristis'). This specific willow will receive some severe pruning next week to keep it a bit more "in scale" with that edge of the Japanese garden. Directly above are Marv (driving end loader), Terry and Larry moving our big culvert pipe planters outside to make room for the next batch of items to come inside for attention. To the right are more crocuses (Crocus 'Zwanenberg') blooming and to the left is the beautiful double snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis 'Flore Pleno') in bloom. Unfortunately, these dangling double flowers are hard to appreciate unless viewed from below or turned upwards as seen here for a peak.

We had another very productive volunteer morning today. Aside from Marv and Terry helping out with the culvert pipes and preparing our rear yard for incoming materials (compost, shredded bark, topsoil, etc.), we had some major activity out in the gardens and in the Horticulture Center. Directly below is Marianne with her increasing pile of prepared labels. When we receive these pre-cut, plastic labels (Johnson Plastics), they all have a protective plastic film that needs to be peeled off before we can use them. I think Marianne has peeled over 2,000 of these the last two days! Marianne also prepared some handouts for me. Janice was in to work on more plant sale information and she and Cindy K. will soon start producing our 23,000 veggie labels. Urban (seen below) was pruning in the Japanese garden while Pat (also below) was in the rose garden digging up suckers and tidying up. A cold March would still have some major frost in the ground but we're having very little trouble digging anywhere. Urban and Pat took Stan, our rookie Grumpy, out in the gardens and he jumped right in to pruning and has a knack for this task with his past careers as an institutional groundskeeper (Beloit College) and orchard owner. We welcome him to our family! Dr. Gredler continued painting and is moving on from Adirondack chairs to cucumber supports. Dennis did a nice job removing more remnants of the Holiday Lights Show which included stakes, flags, cords, etc. (fourth picture below this text). Dave, Jim, Vern and Bob A. worked on building twenty more obelisks for the gift shop and Spring Plant Sale (see www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org for information on this sale, including plant lists). Del was in to work on more carpentry and we also saw Gary, Mary W., Sue M., Bill and many others too. To the right is another hellebore (Helleborus orientalis, unknown variety) in bloom in the gazebo garden. Hellebore flowers tend to droop downwards but recent and current breeding efforts are hoping to create more upwards facing (thereby more conspicuous) blooms.

The Hostalicious presentation last night at RBG by Jeff Miller went very well and we had 50 attendees enjoy the lecture (see bottom photo). Jeff, from Land of the Giants Hosta Farm, not only talked about the merits of hostas but discussed division, fertilization, breeding efforts, slug problems and also mentioned some problems to be aware of in regards to our hostas (Southern blight, foliar nematodes, Virus X, etc.). There were lots of questions and I wasn't shy about mentioning that Jeff and Penny's nursery and home landscape are included as part of our Home Garden Tour on July 21st. The next topic in this lecture series is April 18th (6:30 pm) and the subject is Healthy Soils - Healthy Plants - Healthy People by Jay Bando of Bando Organics (Madison). I'll then present Vertical Gardening: Growing Your Gardens Upwards on May 16th (6:3o pm). Check out our website for more information on this popular lecture series. Incidentally, our March 24 Spring Symposium will be full within a couple days! To the right are the buds of the bearsfoot hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) which open chartreuse and blend with the flower stalks. I've been watching this specimen all winter and it is a tough perennial. To the left is the camouflauge bark of the lacebark pine (Pinus bungeana) which becomes more striking with age.

It was recently announced that RBG has hired our next Executive Director. Mary Fanning-Penny will start in early April and there is more information on her at the Janesville Gazette link provided here http://gazettextra.com/news/2012/mar/07/rotary-gardens-tabs-fanning-penny-executive-direct/. We're excited to have Mary here at the gardens and are confident that she'll continue the momentum created by previous Directors, our staff and Board of Directors. We also hope Mary will be here for the forseeable future. In 23 years, our leadership in that position has gone thru the following transitions: Jane K., Kim E., John A. (interim), Sue O., John A. (interim), Ed L., Gary S. (interim), Dave J., Gary S. (interim), Kelli C., Gary S. (interim) and now Mary. To the right is Bob A. putting a clear sealant on portions of the cedar obelisks that are currently under construction. I should finish the Wellness Garden plan by Monday and will have a busy week of plant orders and presentation preparations. I'm speaking at the Chicago Flower Show next Thursday and will travel to Navy Pier with Ed Lyon (Allen Centennial Gardens, UW-Madison) and Noel Valdes (developer of the cool Cobrahead garden tool, Cambridge, WI). Ed and Noel are also speaking and our carpooling in to the Windy City is the way to go!