HLS Poised And Ready

We had the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) turned on both Saturday and Sunday night for private parties that rented the Parker Education Center and paid an extra fee for the show.  Both nights ran quite well although I had some small issues last night after a full day of sleet and drizzle.  However, those going thru the HLS seemed to enjoy the experience.  We'll open this event to the public this Thursday night, December 13th (check www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org for other dates, times and details).  Barring heavy rains, the show should run well and we hope to see solid crowds.  We have some bulb planting to do later in the week as we received two nice donations of surplus, spring-flowering bulbs over the past two weeks.  Most of our gardening tasks are complete though.  It's odd to think that this will be the first year that we've actively gardened every month of the year!  At the top is a photo in the Japanese garden showing our mesh netting on yews (Taxus sp.) meant to keep the deer from nibbling.  This protection worked well last year and we hope it is just as effective this winter.  Directly above is a portion of our bear sculpture (bronze) that actually features five or six bear cubs climbing.  Directly below is the late season color on the 'Last Dance' golden-ray (Ligularia hybrida) which is marginally hardy but is also known as the latest blooming of the ligularias.  We'll see how it does in future years as we planted it this fall.  The next photo down shows the ornamental bark on the trunk of our largest Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) in the Japanese garden.  Older bark starts to reveal some reddish tints and is particularly colorful when it's wet.  The third photo down shows the detailed foliage on the fringecups (Tellima grandiflora 'Forest Frost') which is closely related to coral bells (Heuchera).

Despite a cold start to the morning with the promise of more drizzle, we had a strong turnout of volunteers; primarily our Grumpies.  The weather, though chilly, remained relatively clear for the entire day.  Pat and Urban went out in the gardens to do some pruning and scout out their next "target trees".  Del came in to continue work on his reindeer cutouts and Dr. Gredler continues to paint some of our foam containers a bright shade of orange for 2013.  Bob A., Dave and Vern continued carpentry progress on some new obelisks and other projects.  Maury was in for various projects and we saw him throughout the day.  Dick H., along with help from Bill O., worked on replacing the muffler on our dump truck (below).  Dick is quite handy with anything "vehicular" and is a huge help with our fleet of vehicles and other equipment.  We also saw Bob C., Dick P., Gary, Mary W., Chuck S., and many others.  Janice (second photo down) was also here most of the day researching vegetable varieties for our collections and the spring plant sale (May 11th and 12th, 2013).

I've been working on seed orders, organizing photos and other tasks to get ready for 2013.  I had a productive day but the constant desk work sure puts a strain on the aging back!  I walked the entire gardens and everything looked good.  I took some photos, adjusted some HLS cords and otherwise, got "re-connected" to the gardens.  Evidence of deer (hoof prints and poop) is everywhere although I didn't observe any nibbling yet.  Color was not hard to find and certainly becomes more obvious in a sea of browns and tans.  Directly below is the 'Evergold' Japanese sedge (Carex oshimensis).  The next photo down shows the 'Dale's Strain' coral bell (Heuchera americana) which normally has green leaves with that silver patina.  This late season maroon looks great with that same patina.  The coral bells will continue to be colorful until they are buried by snow.  At the bottom are some of the fruits of the cockspur hawthorn (Crataegus crus-galli) in the arboretum.  This tree is a great source of food for wildlife and provides protected nesting sites as well. The fruits are eaten by a wide range of birds, rodents and other wildlife.  Larry also worked on a wide range of indoor and outdoor tasks and turned on a portion of the HLS for an event his evening.

December Bulb Planting

Today Maury went and picked up a generous donation of surplus, spring-blooming bulbs (above) from a local vendor.  This is probably another 6,000 bulbs or so and I'm hoping we can plant these over the next two weeks.  It's certainly not too late to plant although the weather could turn sour very quickly.  Surplus bulbs like these are typically tossed out at the end of the season.  However, we've received donations of this nature in the past and always strive to take full advantage of this additional spring color!  The price is certainly right.  I'll see what sort of help we get next week (shovel-work) to accomplish this task. 

It was quieet at the Horticulture Center today.  Dr. Gredler came in to transition more containers from white to this brilliant orange (above).  These containers are made of structural foam so are quite light and this is probably the fourth color we've painted on them over the years.  I seem to remember red, yellow, white and now orange.  There are five of these and they'll be out on the terrace as that surrounding garden space (terrace garden) will echo the orange/maroon theme in the entrance garden in 2013.  Urban was also in for some painting duties on the PVC pipe planters.  He said waiting for the paint to dry on these pipes was a lot like "waiting for paint to dry."  Some of the recent colors that Doc and Urban have utilized can be seen below.  Urban later went out to prune some crabapples (Malus) near the Horticulture Center.  Pat was the only one to head in to the gardens where he continued his pruning efforts for most of the morning.  Aside from Maury mentioned above, we also saw Gary, Big John, Bill O and a delivery of lumber.   Although the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) doesn't start for the public until next Thursday, December 13th (see our website for all the dates and times), we have to turn the lights on for some functions at the Parker Education Center over the weekend.  We're keeping an eye on the weather and have our snowblower (second photo down), shovels, etc. ready to go.  A little snow covers the cords nicely and sure adds to the effect.

I had a productive day of 2013 preparations.  I continue to go thru our seed catalogs and am starting with those that we order from most frequently.  I'll probably have perused 40 catalogs by the end of the month.  As we finalize collections for next year, our seed and plant orders will very accordingly.  The Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden will have a new theme in 2013-14.  The Smelly Garden theme in that space was very well received for the two years we featured that collection.  However, the new, two-year theme will be called "Pollinator's Paradise".  Our displays in this space will focus on attracting pollinators by providing nectar food sources as well as supporting plants for the larval stage (i.e. butterflies).  This garden should look beautiful and will have plenty of educational value for all visitors.  One plant we'll be sure to include is the perennial butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) seen below.  It will be neat to experiment with this theme and I'm interested in seeing the fun activities that Kris K. (RBG Education Coordinator) develops around this collection.

The last photo down shows bundles of our C7 lights ready to be strung out for 1/2 gallon milk jug luminaries.  This is an older photo as Marianne has already prepared all the luminaries out in the HLS.  However, this photo is meant to help promote attendance at the garden lecture next Wednesday evening, December 12th from 6:30 pm until 8 pm.  I'll be talking about the HLS in detail and we'll have a "behind the scenes" discussion regarding our displays and set-up.  We'll also end up outside to view the HLS in greater detail. 

Sensational Sunrise

The sunrise this morning was absolutely breathtaking.  The image above is true color and remarkable. I've seen some many nice sunrises over the years just above the tree line across Palmer Drive from the Horticulture Center.  It was another decent day in terms of weather although it looks like some snow in the forecast for Sunday evening.  Most of our "gardening Grumpies" are taking the winter off as we're in pretty good shape out in the gardens.  We may see some return for the takedown of the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) in January.  There still are some gardening tasks left including some late planting of donated, spring-blooming bulbs.  I'm actually picking up another donation of spring-blooming bulbs tomorrow so if any of our volunteers are reading this blog, come in next week and we'll get these planted!  Our carpentry Grumpies were here today (sans Vern).  Below are Jim, Dave and Bob A. (left to right) working on multiple projects.  They have about five projects to juggle right now and we'll see some lumber arriving shortly to keep them out of trouble.  Del came in this morning to work on his reindeer cutouts (second photo down) and Bob C. popped in to mention that he'll continue sanding down some of our benches at home.  He did a dynamite job on one of our teak benches recently.  Dr. Gredler was in for some painting as was Urban.  Dr. Gredler can be seen below painting our bike rack a nice cantaloupe color.  The bike rack also echoes our color schemes every year.  Dick H. ran our last three loads of debris for the year to the dump. Urban was seen later in the day pruning crabapples (Malus) too!  Bill O. came in to help Larry and did some more garden clean-up here and there.  Maury was in to run some errands and we also saw Deb G., Lynn S., Bev D., Mark S. and Polly.  I was gone a good portion of the day so inevitably, I'm sure I missed seeing some of our volunteers.

I was invited to do a presentation about RBG for the Rockford Rotary Club today.  I was recruited by Dave and Al from that club back in the summer when they visited the gardens and wanted to share RBG with their membership as well.  My talk was very well received and was held in the beautiful Memorial Hall (seen below) in downtown Rockford.  I had a nice lunch and great discussions with many of the members, most of whom had not been to the gardens (yet).  I never tire of "bragging up" the gardens and enjoyed sharing our history, volunteer efforts, accolades, collections and of course, I offered an open invitation for everyone to visit (perhaps starting with our upcoming Holiday Lights Show!).  The third photo down shows the heavy fruiting of a hawthorn (Crataegus) right next to Memorial Hall.  This was one of those times I was happy to have my camera.  I did accomplish some tasks both this morning and afternoon and Larry kept busy with a wide range of projects and is quite self-directed this time of year.  Back to the seed catalogs tomorrow (hopefully).  At the bottom is another scary gnome.  I remember one of my college professors telling how his neighbors had a sizeable gnome collection in their yard and whenever the neighbors travelled, he and his wife would go over and move their gnomes around and position them in odd locations and in "interesting" positions.  Apparently he didn't like these neighbors much! 

Burlap & Bulbs

Today was a return to more "normal" temperatures which is something that has eluded us all year!  Today was crisp in the morning but it was a nice sunny day that ended up near 40 degrees F.  As seen above, the evidence of deer activity out in the gardens is everywhere.  I've not noticed much nibbling yet but it is just a matter of time once the ground freezes and we get some snow.  Larry H. (seen below) came in to continue his burlap artistry on our yews (Taxus sp.).  Some of his handiwork can be seen in the second photo down.  He's obviously a little sloppy with throwing burlap around but the end result is perfect. These particular yews are upright forms ('Hicksii') that were decimated by deer three years ago.  Larry did a nice job wrapping these and was here most of the day.  We still have a couple of evergreens that we'll screen off and protect later this week or early next week.  The third photo down shows our snow fence protection for some of the Eastern arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) hedge in the sunken garden. The height of that fence is only 6' which is no trouble for a deer to jump.  However, by placing it 3' away from the hedge, we've created a questionable "landing zone" for the deer that may discourage any attempts at entering that "access envelope."  This set-up has worked well for us in the past.  We've exhausted our supply of burlap and most of our protective netting but should have enough to finish up for the season.

We had many other volunteers here today as well.  Cindy (below) came in for another day of gardening and single handedly planted over 3,000 tulips (Tulipa) today.  We had a very nice donation of tulips and daffodils (Narcissus) come to the gardens thru Jim H. (a Rotarian) and we're poking them in for additional color.  Despite the December planting, our weather has still been mild and these bulbs should all do well.  In the past, we've even planted donated bulbs as late as January with no loss of spring flower power.  Pat and Urban were in for some more tree pruning out in the gardens and Urban also did some painting and prepping of our PVC planters.  Marianne popped by this morning for some cleaning duties and milk jug luminary processing (we need empty, clean, 1/2 gallon milk jugs!).  Marianne also continues to do a nice job of collecting and preparing any press releases, articles or other mentions of RBG out in the press.  I think she's done this now for over six years.  Dr. Gredler was in for painting and Maury stopped in as well.  We also saw Dick H., Mary W., Tina B., Sue M., Rose and many others.  The next two photos below Cindy show off some of the later features of the oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia).  Many of our specimens still have some nice leaf color (maroon) and as the leaves drop, the showy, exfoliating/peeling stems become interesting. 

I was solo today which worked out great as I was able to work on myriad projects including the continuation of seed catalog perusal.  I'm starting to get my thoughts together for 2013 and our first order of business after the New Year will be to get all of our seed orders placed.  We've been so fortunate to have such talented growers (all local) help start seeds and vegetative cuttings for our spring projects.  We have very few limitations on what we can acquire and it is certainly fun to locate, plant and display new and interesting plant materials and combinations.  Directly below is the colorful, winter stem color of the 'Flame' willow (Salix hybrida).  I've featured this plant many times but it seems that the red stem color gets more intense as the season progresses.  I think this coral-red competes easily with any red-stemmed dogwood (Cornus sp.).  The next photo down is one of our rhododendrons (Rhododendron sp.) coping with the cold mornings by furling leaves to minimize the surface area of the leaves that would be exposed to dessicating winds.  Evergreen rhododendrons always look "dry" in winter but they're just trying to cope with tough temperatures and conditions.  The bottom photo shows some of our new Japanese hand hoes (great for weeding) that we'll use next year out in the gardens.  These are becoming some of our most useful (and preferred) garden tools.  They are great for skimming weeds but they need to be kept sharp!

Crackin' The Catalogs

Today was the first day that I seriously dove in to our 2013 catalogs (some seen above).  While I've been perusing them at home for the past month or so, I'm now starting to get our seed orders prepared based on our 2013 color themes and collections.  While we don't pre-plan every garden area, we do commit to certain colors and collections well in advance so we can locate seeds/plants, coordinate growers and be ready to hit the ground running in spring.  The next four months will go very quickly with preparations for 2013.  I actually go thru every catalog I receive from cover to cover.  I not only like to see new plants but there are many other items in these catalogs that may have merit at the gardens (tools, containers, etc.).   They are also fun to read! Today was another sunny and unseasonably warm day (55 degrees F) but we'll take it.  We actually did some mowing today for the first time in December (ever) for us.  Some plants, like the bloody dock (Rumex sanguineus ssp. sanguineus) below think it's spring and are sprouting again!  It looks like we'll return to colder temperatures with cold rain and possible snow arriving this weekend.  The Holiday Lights Show (HLS) isn't open for the public until Thursday, December 13th (check www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org for show dates, times and details).  However, we have to turn the lights on various times this weekend for corporate parties and some other events.  It certainly is a nice "selling point" for rentals!

We had a nice contingent of volunteers at the gardens today.  Pat was out pruning trees this morning and Larry H. was in most of the morning and early afternoon continuing to cover our yews (Taxus sp.) with burlap.  This is essential not for winter hardiness issues but for deer protection.  Last week, Larry was involved with putting mesh netting on plants for the same purpose.  Urban was in this morning for some painting as was Dr. Gredler.  I certainly get plenty of comments on my paint color selections (most not complimentary) but I'm used to that.  I always say, "Wait to you see what it looks like out in the garden...".  Del did some more work on his deer cutouts and Vern stopped by as well.  Bill O. worked out in the gardens (mowing and clean-up) and helped at the Horticulture Center as well.  Dick H., Dick P. and Maury were around this morning for a meeting regarding our annual spring tree sale with the Golden Kiwanis Club.  Glenn, John and Curly from Golden K were there as well.  We're looking forward to a great sale (our third annual) in April (details to follow) that will feature bare root transplants ($1.85 each plus tax) of red oak (Quercus rubra), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), Eastern arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), Norway spruce (Picea abies), Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens glauca), Black Hills spruce (Picea glauca var. densata) and white pine (Pinus strobus).  Some needle clusters of the native white pine can be seen in the bottom photo.  We also saw Charlotte and some others today.  Directly below is the late season reddening on the foliage of the red barrenwort (Epimedium x rubrum).  This perennial is tough in shade and part shade and the spring flowers are a nice feature as well.   The next photo down shows the dried flower structure of the 'Tardiva' panicled hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata) which I think still has interest and would even look good in a dried arrangement.  New growth and flowers will push this off next spring but why not enjoy the winter interest?

Today was Big John's last day for 2012.  He was getting fairly emotional and teary-eyed but who could blame him (tears of joy perhaps!?).  John did some work out in the gardens, repaired a shovel and continued to process our most recent lights donations.  Larry and I did some work on the HLS this morning and Larry was out doing some more last minute improvements and fine tuning.  Larry also shuffled our trailers around and we're really getting ready for winter as we know it can arrive quite quickly.  Directly below is a recent image that Dale S. ("Mr. Moss") sent me of his bird bath.  What a neat use of moss and no one grows moss better than Dale!  The next photo down is the last color transition from the 'Brass Lantern' foamy bells (xHeucherella) in the shade garden.  Although the foliage is flattened, it is still very showy, as are almost all of our foamy bells around the gardens.

Late April In Early December

Temperatures near 60 degrees F today made it feel like spring around the gardens.  In fact, it actually "smelled" like spring (if you know what I mean?) which was enhanced by the recent light rain we've had over the past couple of days.  We're going to take advantage of the nice weather this week and see how much more gardening we can accomplish before the snow flies.  In touring the gardens today, I noticed the 'Joseph Lemper' Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) just starting to bloom nicely in the woodland walk garden (top photo).  This hellebore species, along with the bearsfoot hellebore (Helleborus foetidus), is normally one of the earliest to bloom for us although we typically don't see these white flowers until March!  This variety was new for us so I did a bit more research to find that it is a clonal variety from Germany that is known for being more upright with larger flowers that start earlier than the standard species.  This is the first time our "Christmas Rose" hellebore will be blooming at Christmas and I'm sure the recent heat wave has been a factor.  Directly above is the showy bark of the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) that really shows red highlights after a rain.  Directly below are the dried (but persistent) leaves of the swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor)

We had some nice volunteer help today.  Cindy (directly below) was here early and headed right out to prune back shrubs around the horticulture center.  In this photo, she's cutting back a 'Royal Purple' smokebush (Cotinus coggygria) that will respond next year with a nice flush of new growth and deep maroon leaves.  Unfortunately the flowers are lost because of the trimming which we only do every two or three years.  Cindy then went on to plant a couple hundred daffodils (Narcissus) and tulips (Tulipa) that were very recently donated.  She also moved on to garden clean-up and we look forward to having her here later in the week too.  Eugene and Dick H. went out in the gardens with gravel and smoothed over many of the paths with depressions, washouts and/or potholes.  Del came in to continue work on his reindeer cutouts and Gary continued to create more perennial labels based on his most recent forays in to the garden looking for labels that we still need to "swap out" with our new format.  Dave T., Jim and Bob A. (second photo down) worked on various carpentry projects.  In this photo,  Bob is re-staining a bench although I didn't have the heart to tell him we really wanted it painted green... Maury came in to run some errands and we also saw many others today as well.  Tom C. was in around lunch to help with some electrical issues while Urban came in to put another coat of paint on our PVC planters for 2013.

We're still down to a skeleton crew for grounds with just Larry, Big John (done tomorrow) and me.  However, we still see Pat, Janice, Marv, Marianne and Terry as volunteers.  Jenny will be back in action after the new year to start on 2013 annual labels as well.  John worked on installing more protective deer fencing and processed another bulb donation that we received today.  John also worked on testing and organizing a bunch of donated lights (both old and new) for the Holiday Lights Show (HLS).  While we wont use these this year, it's worth our time to test, repair and store these donations.  John also worked on various odds and ends.  Larry helped get more lighting on some signs in the HLS and worked with Tom C. on an electrical project.  Larry, like John, worked on myriad other projects as well.  I spent the morning working on a new emerald ash borer (EAB) brochure that we're creating as part of our DNR Urban Forestry grant for 2012.  I also had various odds and ends to accomplish and hope to get in to the seed catalogs tomorrow. 

Directly below is the vivid late season color of the 'Karmina' perennial geranium (Geranium x cantabrigiense) which is a nice feature as everything else fades to tan and brown!  The next photo down is the late fall color of the Korean feather reed grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha) which I think looks outstanding.  This grass will stay erect during light snows but wont withstand the heavier, wet snows.  When selecting ornamental grasses, "winter rigidity" will vary greatly.  The third photo down shows the perennial, tall moor grass (Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea 'Skyracer') that has nice summer form, a showy yellow fall color, but no winter toughness.  In fact, this clump of moor grasses hasn't even seen snow and is already flattening out.  Know your grasses and all their features.  The third photo down features the showy green stems of the Japanese kerria (Kerria japonica) which I feel is a nice winter feature.  At the bottom, a gnome.

HLS Teaser

The premier lighting of the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) last night went very well.  These images were just some of many that I took last night during the event.  My camera is not real good at night so while most of my shots were blurry, at least these came out!  The Taste of Chocolate (TOC) seemed to be a great success and I heard nothing but positive comments regarding the dinner, chocolate, atmosphere and of course, the HLS!  It was so warm outside (37 degrees F) last night that I took the opportunity to go thru the entire walk and replace luminary bulbs, adjust LED displays, etc.  I found two small problems that I had the time to iron out last night.  Many of the attendees at the event are our current volunteers that have gone to the TOC and HLS in the past.  I must have chatted with 100+ attendees last night out in the HLS.  Universally, everyone felt that the HLS was the best yet.  A little snow would have helped the ambiance but no one was complaining about the mild temperatures for enjoying the walk last night.  This positive response from the first group of people to go thru the entire, completed HLS is a reflection on the hard work of many volunteers and most specifically, our dedicated grounds staff that started putting up the show in early October.  Great job team!  We're preparing for record attendance at the HLS and we certainly hope to maximize this event as a fundraiser as well!  There are many themed displays in the HLS including those that are "horticulturally based" like the lily-of-the-valley directly below and the calla lily at the bottom.  Come see the roses, cacti, daffodils, tulips, trumpetvine, poinsettias, etc.!!!