Ready For The Expo

We're packed and ready to head up to the Garden Expo tomorrow at the Alliant Energy Center (Madison, WI). Mike, Big John, Dick P. and I will get everything set up in the morning and our booth will be staffed with volunteers and various staff during this Friday night thru Sunday event. It really is a nice event with many vendors and informational booths along with seminars regarding many topics. Nice shot above of a stonecrop (or sedum) that is relatively new for us. This is Sedum telephium subsp. ruprechtii 'Hab Gray' that has a dusky, smokey gray leaf and flower clusters aging from pink to creamy yellow. So many catalogs and garden centers are offering a wide range of sedums and I like to focus on those with interesting foliage as well, particularly for those that flower later in the year. Look for many of the dark, maroon-leaf varieties as well (I'll show my favorites soon). 'Hab Gray' is beautiful even without blooms and will reach 20" in height over the summer. Sedums will take tough soils and be wary of placing them in "ultra-rich" soils as they get tall and floppy. Notice our Grumpies below working on various projects today. They look like a bunch of elves in their workshop. From left to right we have Maury, Urban, Dr. Gredler, Del and Dick W. Dick is the only one not in the witness protection program, hence his "face forward pose"... Color might be lacking outside but not in our Horticulture Center! Marianne came in to help with seeds and Janice was here to work on our spring plant sale and had her volunteer group come to package seeds (cucumber and gourd) for our upcoming plant sale too. Marv helped Larry pack up the Expo trailer and Little Jerry was out pruning and bringing in more lights. Rose came in to paint later with Dr. Greder and the carpenter quartet worked on various projects as well. Lisa came in to discuss our daylily collection. She is doing an awesome job inventorying, assessing, confirming and evaluating our collection with the intent of improving the "integrity" (and content) of that collection. We also saw Dick H, Bill O., Jumbo Jim and Bob T. here today. See some of our volunteers in action today. Bob A. (sanding with vigor) to the left and Marianne (seed sorting with a smile) to the right. It's great to feel the momentum and energy building as we head towards spring. We have a full plate as usual but I can't say enough about how important our volunteers are on a daily basis here at Rotary Botanical Gardens. Whether they are gardening, woodworking, researching, giving tours, providing education, etc., RBG would not be the place it is (or will be) without these dedicated people. And most importantly, they also make me look good too. See below for a sneak peak of the gardens only 15.5 weeks away...those are ornamental onions (Allium 'Purple Sensation') from last year but they'll be back.

Field Trip Day

I spent most of the day up in Madison, WI at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Dave, Gary, Dick P., Maury, Big John and I spent time with Robert (Olbrich plant recorder) looking at the set-up, features and merits of their laser engraver (seen above). They do a wonderful job with plant labeling and we hope to soon emulate and standardize what they have done and will get an engraver ourselves. Thanks to Robert for the valuable assistance and hospitality. Some signs samples from Olbrich can be seen below and the information is fairly standard as to what you would see at botanic gardens. I like the nice crisp look and white lettering on a black background, while visible, isn't visually distracting. I was a bit out of touch with what happened at the gardens today but both Bill and Larry worked on snow removal while Dick H. plowed our drives and parking lot. Dr. Gredler was here painting obelisks bright yellow while Del worked on his deer project. Still getting ready for the Garden EXPO and will load up tomorrow for our early Friday expedition. See below for another interesting use of biodegradable straw pots. Janice will now be their international spokesmodel.

The Winter Wonderland Returns

Plenty of snow today with the light stuff coming down all day with 5" of accumulation thus far. This has been a pretty snow but will create nightmare travel conditions tonight when the wind picks up. I hope everyone still has the "heart" to get thru this winter. Get it? Heart? Above is the old-fashioned bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis) that should be blooming in 4 months or so (photo by Santos). Mark it on the calendar. I prefer the variety 'Goldheart' because of its piercing yellow foliage and more visual "pop" in a shaded border (see below). Winter truly has its own beauty and despite the lack of color, your garden should still have interest with grasses, conifers, ornamental bark and ornamental fruits.As you can see below, some of our Grumpies (Vern and Dave) are never too old to play with blocks. They are actually figuring out a complicated arch that will have to be replicated three times to be part of a large, sitting arbor that will be constructed this spring. These guys (including Dave, Bob A., Del, Big John, etc.) are very talented with carpentry and RBG is truly fortunate to have them as volunteers. The guys didn't appreciate my comment that I didn't think the wood they had laid out below (particularly the pegboard) would be very supportive or sturdy...We had a small but dedicated crew today. Marianne and Kay continued their seed labeling and have put us in position to start getting seeds ready for the nurseries. Urban and Rose were here painting our PVC pillar planters while Dr. Gredler still appears to be relatively sane after painting his 20th obelisk or so? Larry and Bill kept up with snow removal around the buildings and will do more tomorrow when this system moves thru the area. We also saw Gary, Maury, Iza, Joanne, Dick P., Big John and Julie over here today. I had some meetings but am working on preparing for some upcoming events, including the Garden EXPO this weekend.

To the above left is a recent shot of the plywood daisies (and their eventual stem/petal support) that will be offered as part of our "Petal Thru the Gardens" art event at the gardens. A limited number (27) of these will be decorated by area artists, school children, etc. for a nominal fee and will be displayed out in the gardens thru the summer. We will later auction these flowers off and this will become both a fun art project as well as a decent fundraiser for RBG. The flowers, after they are decorated and returned, will have a preservative treatment and should look good outside for some time to come. Below is Rose showing some of her painting skills. The paint splotches on her shirt are a true testament to our commitment to converting many paint colors each winter! The bottom picture is the white blooming variety ('Alba') of the bleeding heart species (Dicentra spectabilis) mentioned above. Exquisite blooms on a very long-lived perennial.

Crunch Time Continues

I'd sure love to be sitting in those seats above right now (shot taken in our new children's garden last year). However, crunch time continues with ordering the remainder of our seeds and finishing off most of our spring orders. I try to get the majority of ordering done quickly so we have time to make signs and be ready to roll when plant material starts arriving in 2-3 months. I had a great time over in Michigan last week presenting at the Plants of Distinction Conference in both Novi and Grand Rapids. Dr. Laura Deeter (Ohio State University) and Dr. Bert Cregg (Michigan State University) were the other speakers and did spectacular talks on Hortus mustus (cool plants) and conifers respectively. I spoke on "Ornamental Edibles" and "Container Cornucopia". Mary and Rebecca from MSU Extension ran a nice program and the attendees were an enthusiastic bunch. I certainly hope that my shameless promotion of RBG to these "potentials" will bring in new visitors and members!

To the left is a shot of another of our biodegradable pot samples for an educational display that Janice is preparing. This pot was initiated by Jack Van de Wetering who was looking for a biodegradable pot that would break down in less than one year and provide superior root penetration. The final product is 80% rice straw, 20% coco fibers and has spray of natural latex added as well. See http://strawpot.com/index.html for more information on this neat product. To the right is ZEBA Quench, a corn starch-based hydrogel that when hydrated and incorporated in to container soils (or other soils), will lessen watering requirements immensely. Some other hydrogels are petroleum based and when they start breaking down in the environment (depolymerize), there are some toxicity issues. I promoted this new product at my talk as a safer option and we will use it as well in all of our containers at the gardens.

We had a huge crowd of volunteers today. Marianne and Kay helped with preparing color-coded labels for our seed orders. Their monotonous work will pay for itself when our plants come back in spring and can be identified readily and allocated to their planting location quickly. Janice was in to work on some of her projects for awhile too. Marv and Terry worked on bringing in lights and displays while Urban was out pruning. Little Jerry drew the short straw and was responsible for dispersing 128 oz. of coyote urine (see to the left) in garden areas that are being decimated by hungry deer. I never thought it would come to this but the damage is significant and we'll see how this works. I don't even want to know how this is extracted...Dick W. and Del worked on their reindeer while Vern, Bob A., Dave and Jim worked on various carpentry projects. We also saw Maury, Dr. Gredler, Bill O. "Fireman Bill", Doug, Cathy, Rose, Jean, Deb, Bev and Dick H. today too. Too many tasks to list but lots of progress!

I'm going to continue to promote some neat plants as time allows in my blogs (see below). The topic of blogs and finding verified information came up in Michigan. Of course, we should all know that just because it's on the internet, doesn't mean it's true. Factual information should be verified by multiple sources and be sure to separate out subjective opinions from hard facts/data. I used the example of putting something on my blog last year that I thought to be true based on internet information and later found out that I was dead wrong. Be wary but do understand that there is an enormous number of wonderful, educational, horticulture-based websites and blogs that can be great resources. There is a great blog called The Garden Professors (just "Google it") that has some really neat information from four horticulture professors, including Dr. Bert Cregg mentioned above. This blog was mentioned at the conference and I've enjoyed reading it the past couple of months. Regardless, the value of the internet as a learning tool is truly amazing although it is a shame that it has also become a venue for less savory activities as well.

Below is winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) that we hope to see in as little as 7-8 weeks from today. This fall-planted bulb is truly a harbinger of spring and we plant it by the hundreds. It will eventually colonize and is our first bulb to bloom out in the gardens. This buttercup relative will do great in areas where overhead, deciduous canopy will later fill in to create shade, well after this bulb is dormant. I thought I'd include a shot of 'Fireworks' Pennisetum (annual grass) at the bottom as it looks so exciting and Dr. Deeter promoted it in her talk as well. This shot was taken at Chanticleer Gardens this past summer and really shows both the value of colorful foliage but also the merit in texture provided by an ornamental grass. Look for it!

The Gazebo 18 Years Ago

I thought I'd put out a quick blog before I headed out this morning. Growing up in the Chicago area, I can appreciate the implications of rush hour and am timing my departure from Janesville accordingly. Of course, once clearing Chicago, I'll head thru the Gary, IN area which always has some sort of construction going on. Regardless, looking forward to my trip. Above are some construction shots of the gazebo that show some of our earliest volunteers, including Jim Cullen, putting up this wonderful structure. Note the top picture is actually of the upper portion of the gazebo that was later raised (picture directly above) with the first level being constructed underneath. Below is a nice shot of the view thru the gazebo to the arched bridge. The orange cones are there because of some brick work being done to expand that patio. The gazebo garden truly is the "coolest spot" in the garden with overhead shade from hackberries (Celtis occidentalis) and a nice breeze coming across the water.

Ran Out Of Blogging Time

Sorry. No time until Monday. Sweet shot of gazebo above.

Some Sweet Shots

As you can see from above, I'm not worried about the appropriate "seasonality" of my photos during a February blog. The arched bridge shot above and fog-shrouded shot at the bottom were just sent to me from Mike, a local ER doctor that also has a great photographic eye. I've been fortunate to have so many talented photographers, like Mike, offer their photos for our digital library. These photos and those like them allow us to really promote the gardens and I consider the efforts of these volunteer photographers so valuable.

We had a nice turnout today with Marv, Terry, Little Jerry, Urban and Larry bringing in lights and displays. Bill processed many of the cords and lights that came back to the horticulture center. Del and Dick W. worked on reindeer while Vern, Bob A., Dave and Jim finished some carpentry and are working on creating three large arches for a new outdoor structure. Dr. Gredler continued to paint and Dick H. helped here and there as needed. Maury and Dick P. did some work at the visitors center and we also saw Bill O., Chuck and Lois at the Horticulture Center. Marianne helped sort seeds and inventory our current seed supply. We'll really start sifting and sorting next week. I'm finishing up some loose ends including last minute seed ordering as I prepare for a trip to MI later in the week. I'm presenting as part of the Plants of Distinction program in Novi (near Detroit) and Grand Rapids. Should be a great crowd and I'll talk about Ornamental Edibles and container gardening.

I've decided to start teasing with some shots of plants (of all sorts) that I think have lots of merit, particularly in our climate. Not all of these will be new as I subscribe to that old gardening adage that "All new plants aren't necessarily good and all good plants aren't necessarily new." Along those lines, to the left is a variegated false forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost') that really is an eyecatcher in the part shade garden with sparkling foliage that catches the eye. Blue spring flowers go quickly but this leathery foliage looks great thru the season at 15" tall and very few insect or disease issues. Moist, organic, well-drained soil is preferable. 'Looking Glass' is another variety with pizzaz (see below) with lots of silver but I'll never grow tired of 'Jack Frost'.