You Lookin' At Me!?

The goose above went on attack mode this morning when I went on the observation pier for a photo. He/she came right out of the water with some major hissing and forced my quick (and not graceful) retreat to safety. The goose and his/her partner have been trying to establish this structure as their own and based on that intimidating glare, I think I'll just stay away! Today was cooler (high of 69 degrees F) but quite nice with a cool breeze and intermittent sunshine. I had a wide range of tasks to work on inside but did make it outside for my daily (hopefully) tour of the gardens. I marked locations for our new elevated PVC planters and come of the culvert pipe planters as well. I'm trying to finish my presentation for tomorrow night at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (OBG) on Sensational Shrubbery (6:30 pm). I had an older presentation on this topic but never like to repeat a presentation so have been augmenting with additional shrubberies of merit. I'm actually back to OBG next week (Tuesday) for a presentation on Annual Grasses (6:30 pm). I'm hoping to travel up there early on both occasions to tour the gardens and take some more photos. To the left are some more garden hyacinths (Hyacinthus) out in the gardens. I wish I could recall this vivid pink variety. When we relocated our hyacinth collection years ago, the signs didn't travel with the bulbs unfortunately. Regardless, the hyacinths are perfuming the garden and peaking right now.

We had some activity in the gardens today with LP Tree Service (Garrick) grinding some sizeable stumps for us today. The clean up is significant after the grinding but Dr. Gredler, Larry and Bill made quick work of the project. We still have some smaller stumps off the beaten path that will necessitate a smaller grinder for access (if possible). To the right are the delicate blooms of the 'Black Sea' barrenwort (Epimedium hybrida) which are quite showy. This shot is literally taken from ground level. Most gardeners don't use barrenworts enough in their part shade and shade gardens. This variety (and many others) also get a great reddish orange fall color in November. Directly below are the green blossoms of the bearsfoot hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) that I've been featuring (and observing!) since December. The glossy green foliage on this plant is also quite fetching and we occasionally see seedlings of this species here and there. The next photo down is a close-up of the small but exquisite blooms of another barrenwort (Epimedium hybrida). This is the variety 'Fire Dragon' that was just planted last year and look at that awesome combination of yellow and light pink. This might be my new favorite (check out 'Lilac Fairy' too as it is cool but just moved to second place...). The third photo down is one of our crabapples (Malus) getting ready to open. Frost will not be kind to these opened flowers but we'll see what happens. We had another productive day both inside the Horticulture Center and out in the gardens. Larry and Bill accomplished the first push mowing of the season and we really needed it done. Dr. Gredler did some riding mowing and Little Jerry came in to mow the arboretum and Lion's Beach lawn. Larry will have to get the string trimmer out soon for touch-up. To my knowledge, we've never mown in March and typically don't do much until late April. Oh well, we simply have to adjust to the advanced season although I get more concerned about our ability to control this first generation of weeds! UGH! Rose was in for some painting work and Dr. Gredler also did some painting as well. Maury ran some very timely errands for supplies and it's nice to have he and Kay back from sunny Florida. I had a nice phone chat with Dr. Yahr (in AZ) and we'll see him back at the end of April. We also saw Urban, Janice, Chuck, Mark S. and many others. To the right is the Juno iris (Iris bucharica) which is fall planted and is one of my favorite spring bulbs. This clump is in the shade garden and they bloom well before overhead deciduous canopies create significant shade. I think we'll plant a couple hundred more of these in fall. To the left is the start of 'Whiskey Sour' plantain lily (Hosta) which is one of thousands of hostas quickly poking up out of the soil and "unfurling". I like to observe hostas throughout the season and we'll actually be applying some slug repellant shortly as we've been told that they are active with all this heat and are not shy about getting an early snack. To the right is the checkered fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) which always looks good and is certainly a conversation piece. We have a couple dozen of these around the garden and I enjoy photographing these beautiful (albeit drooping) blooms. With the wind today, I must have taken 20 shots of this one flower and this was the only one that wasn't blurry! Directly below are the "ready to pop open" buds of the Judd viburnum (Viburnum x juddii). This shrub is extremely fragrant (nice fall color too) and those blooms will perfume a good 40' radius or so and are a great cut flower for fragrance as well. The second photo down shows more of our redbud (Cercis canadensis) blooms opening up and at the bottom is another nice shot of the arched bridge framed by the gazebo. I take this shot dozens of times each year and should point out that the gazebo was positioned for this view (the bridge came first). Lots more going on this week and I'm in Milwaukee this Friday to speak at the Art in Bloom event (Shrub & Perennial Combinations) at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Should be fun.