Back In Gear

Today was the perfect day with sunshine, blue sky and temperatures in the low 60 degrees F. With my crazy schedule this past Monday and Tuesday, it was nice to "reconnect" with the gardens as well as staff and volunteers. I was able to tour the entire gardens and was amazed at the transformation of color over the past couple of days. The top photo shows the awesome 'Coral Lake' magnolia (Magnolia hybrida) overlooking Lion's Beach (our neighbor to the west). We still have many magnolias blooming well including most of the yellow varieties ('Yellow Lantern', 'Elizabeth', etc.). Temperatures tonight in the upper 20 degrees F may damage these flower petals although there shouldn't be much additional damage. I hope all the tender foliage that has emerged during this warm spell will tough it out over these coming chilly nights. The second photo up is the white old-fashioned bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba') which is always one of my favorite early perennials. Directly above is the fresh, glowing growth of the golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold'). I took this photo at Olbrich Botancial Gardens (Madison) last night although our specimens look identical and really are quite eye-catching this time of year. to the left are the just opening, bright pink blooms of the 'Candy Hearts' fernleaf bleeding heart (Dicentra hybrida). This fine-textured, compact perennial (12") also has powdery blue foliage and will send up sporadic blooms well in to summer after the heavy flush in spring.

To the above right are Cindy (in orange) and Jenny heading out in to the gardens this morning. Cindy is a new volunteer and is involved in the Rock Prairie Master Gardener program. We had a bumper crop of volunteers today which included Mary and Roy working in their area as well as Myrt, Gena and Savannah coming in later to join Cindy and Jenny. Kay was in to continue her focused attention (weeding/clean-up) in the upper portion of the woodland walk. Dennis was in to help with a variety of projects too. We also saw Dick H., Maury and Dr. Gredler was in for mowing and additional aeration duties. Brandon (Nature's Touch Landscaping) was at RBG most of day cleaning up our water features which is no small task. We also saw plenty of activity in the gardens as today was our Story & Stroll program and we saw dozens of parents and kids enjoying a perfect day out in the gardens. To the right is one of the many oak leaf art projects coming back to the gardens. This one is dynamite (that's an illustrated clematis) and we'll soon be taking these to be sealed and later mounted out in the gardens for display. Directly below are members of the Horticulture Club from UW-Madison that came down for a morning tour. They later went down to Anderson Gardens (Rockford, IL) for a tour with Tim G. at that awesome garden. The third woman from the right is Dr. Laura Jull, Professor of Horticulture at UW-Madison and a good friend. We all had a nice time touring the gardens and it's nice to see such enthusiasm from the "next generation" of tree huggers! The second photo down is peak bloom for a showy serviceberry (Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Cole's Select') that I photographed last night at Olbrich. The fall color on this selection is also top notch (oranges and reds). We're getting lots of questions regarding the contraptions above in our Ornamental Edible & Compact Vegetable Collection. Marv and Terry finished getting these set-up today and moved on to placing/securing objects and other duties. These guys don't shy away from the "muscle work." These horizontal, PVC pipe planters will have trailing vegetables and herbs cascading down over those paths and while not realistic for home use (due to access for watering, etc.), I think it will be a cool look. Those upright, "tee-pee like" supports will have runner beans and other climbing vegetables working their way up to soften the look as well. This area will also have some other interesting features. After working with Cindy this morning, Jenny moved on to more weeding/gardening in the hosta hollow and fern & moss garden. Marianne did a great job tidying up the front of the building and our 4,000 white tulips (Tulipa) out front will be reaching peak just in time for Easter. Hey, if we're going to miss Mother's Day with these bulbs, let's at least get Easter! Marianne also tidied up the terrace garden and her cutting display is back and action and not lacking for color! To the above right is another one of the oak leaf projects. This one is quite vivid and as with the projects from the previous years (butterflies and daisies), the art work on all of these is extremely creative and well done. We do have some concerns about various materials that were used in terms of longevity outdoors but we will try to address those issues soon. To the left is the light apricot foliage of the 'Pinot Gris' coral bell (Heuchera villosa). This variety will darken a bit with age but that color is not found with other spring foliage although there are some other coral bells (Heuchera) and foamy bells (Heucherella) that offer a wide range of oranges. To the right is a leaf of the 'Venus' coral bell (Heuchera) which has a strong silvering, dark veins and that green edge is maintained throughout the summer. The beauty is in the details for sure!

Our RBG trip to the Netherlands is leaving in six days and while I'm excited, I'm also caught up in a lot of day to day preparations that need to be finalized before I leave (both at RBG and at home!). Our Compost Sale starts this Saturday (8 am until noon) and runs every Saturday in April and May (same hours). We also have our looming Earth Day Event and Spring Tree Sale on April 20th and 21st (see our website) and Arbor Day will be celebrated on April 27th at the gardens. Lots going on although I'm sure I'll keep up my "horticultural fix" while in the Netherlands. Directly below is the golden foliage and bright pink blooms of the 'Goldheart' bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis). This variety really glows from a distance and maintains that yellow foliage thru mid-summer. I never get tired of this variety! Further down is the vivid spring foliage color of the 'Tiramisu' coral bell (Heuchera) in our woodland walk garden. A the bottom is the variegated false forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla) called 'Hadspen Cream'. Note the forget-me-not like blooms on this showy perennial!