OUCH!

We did have some frost last night and it was quite evident on the turf this morning and apparent with the limp looking foliage and flowers here and there around the gardens. The top photo is our 'Yellow Lantern' magnolia (Magnolia hybrida) which would normally bloom closer to Mother's Day (should be yellow!) and hopefully avoid the "flower browning" touch of frost. All the magnolias got a touch of the frost last night and have varying degrees of flower damage. It sounds like tonight and a couple nights next week will give additional exposure to Jack Frost. My walk around today was interesting in that it was very conspicuous regarding which plants have some frost tolerance (no flower or foliage damage) and those that are quite sensitive. The dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) above will be fine (I'm sure) and tulips (Tulipa, unknown variety) are unaffected thus far as seen directly above. I'm more worried about damaged foliage on all the plants (perennials, trees, shrubs and vines) that have been duped in to thinking it is mid-May. While the majority of these plants will regenerate new foliage, it is certainly a strain and stress on the energy reserves of that plant to refoliate. We may see our crabapples (Malus), lilacs (Syringa), fragrant viburnums (Viburnum sp.) and other mid-spring bloomers loosing their flowers over the coming days. We'll see how it goes! To the above right is another of the creative oak leaves that will soon be displayed out in the gardens. To the left is our biggest redbud (Cercis canadensis) in the Japanese garden which really is quite impressive both up close and from the distance. For a different form of this neat early bloomer, the Lavender Twist weeping redbud (Cercis canadensis 'Covey') offers some nice interest. Here (to the right) it is positioned near the water adjacent to the Japanese garden and zig-zag bridge. Further below is the showy double bloom of the Japanese kerria (Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora') which really packs some color. There are other kerria varieties with single flowers, variegated foliage, striped stems, etc. Kerrias are a tough "thicketing" plant for sun, part sun or shade. All of ours are looking good right now. Further down are our white tulip (Tulipa) clumps looking nice in front of the Parker Education Center. The third photo down is another redbud (Cercis canadensis) shot with the arched bridge in the distance.
We had a small but motivated crew today. Marv and Terry worked on a lot of different projects which included setting up the two pallet planters (see below) that Terry made. These will be fun to fill with plants in six weeks or so. The guys also rototilled, put up and secured more obelisks, filled in holes from our stump grinding, etc. They had a full list and got thru most of it today. Janice worked on some plant sale projects, garden clean-up, sowing some early grain seeds, etc. Dr. Gredler was in to mow and also worked on some additional projects. Bill came in to help with the mowing as we like the lawns looking nice for the Easter weekend. Oddly enough, we usually haven't mown before Easter on on average year. Kay was here all morning and split her time between processing more plant sale labels and tidying up the woodland walk garden. We also saw Maury, Alys and Marianne was in to refresh the cutting display and help get set-up for our Compost Sale which starts tomorrow (8 am until 12 noon) at the Horticulture Center. Bags of this blended compost (1.5 cu. yd., 40 lbs) are $5.50 each plux tax although RBG Friends Members get 10% off. To the right are the fragrant blooms of one of our white French lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) near the main parking lot. To the left is the powder blue grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum 'Valerie Finnis') which offers such a nice color in the spring landscape. We have many clumps of this variety and that pastel blue is a nice spring component.

I worked on many timely projects today that need to be addressed prior to my departure to the Netherlands next week. It's a busy time of year and I want to make sure everything runs smoothly without the grounds staff dealing with any "loose ends" that I leave behind. To the right is another of the oak leaf art projects. This one is very creative and will look beautiful out in the gardens. Directly below is one of the pallet planters and at the bottom is a shelf fungus on a large hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) near the Horticulture Center. I thought this looked neat and recall my younger daughter (years ago) explaining how these are used by fairies for shelter or might be the front porch for their homes inside the trees. Remember. All mushrooms are edible....some only once.