HLS Delivers!

Included in this blog are photos that I took this past Friday and Sunday at our Holiday Light Show (HLS).  The good news is that we've already had around 2,300 attendees for this event.  The bad (unfortunate) news is that we had to cancel the show on Saturday night because of rain.  Weather is such an important factor and it looks like some wet snow is arriving on Thursday of this week.  On Saturday, Larry couldn't get a good portion of the lights on due to the excessive moisture and our ground faults on many of the outlets.  Thankfully, it was dry enough by yesterday afternoon to get everything back on again.  The event has gone very well with very few problems.  The next four day grouping for the HLS (December 20, 21, 22 and 23) should be quite busy.  We'll also have the HLS on December 27th thru the 30th.  Check out our website for more information.  It was nice to talk to visitors to see where they were from and how they heard about the show.  There were MANY first-time visitors (to the gardens in general) from outside the area that we attracted with our expanded marketing for this event as a result of that JEM grant from the WI Department of Tourism.  We've also had some great entertainment at this event including the Edgerton High School Choral Singers below.  The trains, as always, are also a big hit as is Santa, the quilt display, our gift shop and all the refreshments.

It was a quiet day at the Horticulture Center with Janice and I doing research in the office.  Janice is still scouting out vegetable varieties and I'm starting on some of my spring presentations that are just around the corner.  Vern, Bob and Jim continued work on their eight new obelisks and Dick H. and Pat were in as well.  Dick H. made a fuel run and Pat is continuing to repair some of our recently donated lights.  Maury ran some errands and Dr. Gredler was in for more painting.  Gary is sizing up some future labeling ideas for use out in the gardens and elsewhere.  We also saw Rollie, Mary W. and many members of our Horticultural Therapy Committee that arrived after I finished this blog.

Eleven More Chances!

Last night was our first night of the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) and apparently all went well and we had a decent crowd (300+) enjoy the lights.  Larry worked as the resident "troubleshooter" last night and I'll be involved this evening.  Larry and I split the nights and keep an eye out for electrical issues, safety problems, reindeer sightings, crowd control, etc.  We have a great system in place and of course rely on lots of volunteers to help with each night of the show.  There are eleven more nights that the HLS will be open (4:30 pm until 8 pm) so make sure you check the schedule at www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org.  Last night around 7:30 pm, I observed the show from the vantage point of some of our volunteers' back yard (top photo) which is across the pond from the formal gardens and a good 100' above the level of the gardens.  Most of my photos didn't turn out well but the scale of the show from that vantage point was quite impressive. We're ready for action tonight as is the 1 of 300,000 lights seen above with morning light shining thru nicely.  As I checked over the HLS layout this morning, I had no trouble finding interest out in the gardens.  Directly below is the dwarf, golden sweet flag (Acorus gramineus 'Aureus Minimus') in the Japanese garden still looking good.  The next photo down is my daily update on the 'Josef Lemper' Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) which is opening nicely and will certainly be blooming at Christmas this year!

The weather today was beautiful with sunshine and temperatures around 48 degrees F yet again.  It looks like it will be dry this evening but I worry about the HLS tomorrow night with rain in the forecast as it affects the lights and visitation. Hopefully all will be well.  We'll see how it goes.  We did have some volunteers in today including Urban (below) who continued cutting back shrubs along our east border garden.  He does a nice job and brought back many loads of debris.  Dr. Gredler continued painting our garbage bins and toured part of the garden with Urban later in the morning.  Maury ran some errands for me and Janice was in for most of the morning continuing her seed catalog research for fun and tasty vegetables for the spring plant sale and ornamental edible garden.  We also saw Big John, Joanne A., Bill F. and Dick H.  The second photo down shows the golden foliage of the 'Solar Flair' wood rush (Luzula sylvatica) which holds color over the entire winter until new growth emerges in late April.  The third photo down is a morning shot in the fern & moss garden this morning.

I finished organizing all my photos from this year which is in record time for me.  I rarely have time to organize my photos during the season and spend most of the winter poking away at it.  It looks like I took almost 14,000 photos this year and after purging, sorting, etc, I'm in good shape to move on to other tasks and prepare some of my spring presentations as time allows.  I also risked hand blisters today by planting the last 200 or so daffodils (Narcissus) that were donated.  I also did some HLS odds and ends which included hauling over some more decorations to the Parker Education Center.  Directly below is the colorful, late season foliage of the 'Sea Foam' rose which has been one of our most durable roses over the years.  This color doesn't appear until November but is quite sightly until buried by snow.  The next photo down is a leaf of the 'Autumn Bride' coral bell (Heuchera villosa) or alumroot.  This variety has green leaves for the entire growing season and nice white flowers in September and October.  This leaf color comes very late but caught my eye today.  The next shot features the seed heads of the 'Kokumon' tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa).  The seeds have already dropped but this perspective from above shows the beautiful symmetry that Mother Nature has provided.  At the bottom is another awesome sunrise that I captured at 7 am this morning.  When my daughters sleep in late I tell them that they're missing some spectacular sunrises!

"What humbugs we are, who pretend to live for Beauty, and never see the Dawn!

Logan Pearsall Smith 

December Bulb Planting

The image at the top is one of three loads of donated bulbs that I hauled out in the gardens this morning for planting by our volunteers (mentioned below).  We had a great team for planting and you couldn't ask for a better day with sunshine and a high temperature just shy of 50 degrees F!  Oddly enough, this is only the second latest time that we've planted spring blooming bulbs.  Over a decade ago, we received a donation of 30,000 daffodils (Narcissus) in January and went out with pick-axes and shovels to get them in the ground.  For those that know the gardens, these are all the daffodils on the slopes above the gazebo garden and north path around the pond.  The bulbs planted this morning were primarily tulips (Tulipa) and daffodils (Narcissus) although we also had some grape hyacinths (Muscari) and ornamental onions (Allium).  I think our team easily planted 4,000 bulbs this morning.  The picture directly above shows some of our snowflake displays that will be lit up tonight along with the rest of the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) for the first official evening of this family-friendly event/fundraiser.  Directly below is another shot of the interesting (and typically late) fall color of the leatherleaf viburnum (Viburnum rhytidophyllum) near the gazebo garden.  The second photo down shows the exfoliating (peeling) copper bark on one of our two paperbark maples (Acer griseum) out in the gardens.  This is definitely one of my favorite small trees for bark interest although it is marginally hardy for us as we see occasional dieback with severe winters.

We had a super duper volunteer crew today.  Cindy (directly below) and Pat (second photo down) led the charge with bulb planting early this morning near the gazebo.  They were later joined by Dick H. and Bill O., both of whom helped dig holes for these bulb clumps.  My contribution to this effort involved slinging all the bulb packs around and avoiding potential shoveling blisters on my baby-soft hands.  Jumbo Jim brought in two RECAPPERS and the three of them made the difference in getting through the entire planting project as they stayed the entire day to finish up.  The third photo down shows Dr. Gredler painting our trash bins for next year.  This shot is taken right before he threw his brush at me for mentioning that he missed a spot.  The fourth photo down shows Jim, Dave and Vern working on more carpentry projects.  Bob A. was also involved.  The guys are making me eight new, very narrow and pointed, obelisks for the formal gardens next year.  Del continued work on his reindeer cutouts and Maury came in to run various errands for us.  We also saw Gary, Mary W. and many others.

Aside from laying out bulbs early this morning, I continued work on seed catalogs, organizing photos and am working on some cost projections for next year.  We're hoping to find the funds to help maintain our three acre pond which continues to be a distraction due to varying water quality, debris, lack of circulation and heavy nutrient loads from surrounding land uses.  I still haven't run in to any "down time" which is the way I like it anyway!  In distributing bulbs around the gardens, I was able to note some additional interest out in the gardens.  Directly below is the fall color of the bloody cranesbill geranium (Geranium sanguineum) which is one of my favorites late in the season despite some reseeding issues that are occuring.  Note the tips of the leaf that are brown from touching that cold rock at night!  The next photo is our arched bridge with a foreground of many ducks and geese who are probably confused by this April weather.  The next photo down features the three ducks on our sculptural arch leading in to the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden.  I was trying to take an "ironic shot" with ducks flying behind the sculpture but I wasn't quick enough with the camera.  At the bottom is the grafted, 'Carsten's Gold' mugo pine (Pinus mugo) which continues to get brighter over the winter months.

Mini Warm-Up

Today was a delightful day more reminiscent of a late October day with sunshine and temperatures around 40 degrees F.  It looks like we'll have a warm next couple of days and certainly hope to continue some of our end-of-year gardening efforts.  We may have some moisture this weekend too and while the lights show doesn't need it, the garden could use it.  Tomorrow we hope to plant all the surplus bulb donations and should have enough volunteers to get everything in the ground.  Tomorrow is also opening night for the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) and we hope to have a strong crowd over these first four nights of the show.  The top photo shows one of our flower displays ready to go and directly above is one of our 50 or so obelisks out in the gardens with lights on them.  Note the imprisoned cherub statue underneath the obelisk!  Once the show is over, we'll bring in all the obelisks for "un-decoration" and ultimately, new painting based on our 2013 color selections.  I'm sure Dr. Gredler is excited about this annual opportunity which takes a time commitment.  Directly below are the seed heads of the 'Blonde Ambition' blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) still looking sturdy near the alpine garden.  I've heard this grass also called "minnow grass" for the horizontal seed heads that seem to be floating.  The next photo down shows the second to last color stage of the golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold').  This dark gold will turn brown shortly but holds on to color well and this wall planting has filled in slowly but surely over the years.

We had a nice volunteer turnout this morning with the nice weather.  Pat was here bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and jumped right in to pruning in the color rooms garden (see below).  Pat and Urban have been methodically going through the gardens and are focusing on pruning smaller trees and rejuvenating shrubs.  Urban (second photo down) did a nice job thinning and cutting back shrubs along the east border.  Stan was in to prune and tidy in the Japanese garden and Bill O. came in for some tasks as well.  He emptied the soil out of some of our last containers for winter and always has the eye for collecting debris.  Dr. Gredler continued his painting spree and is now touching up our trash and recycling bins.  Marv also popped in for a visit.  Janice came in for more research and we spent some time discussing our spring plant sale offerings (exciting!) and spring collections.  Maury was in briefly in the afternoon and we also had a visit from George H., our worm casting supplier.  He brought an early Christmas present of over 1,000 lbs. of worm castings (see bottom photo).  We filled up two of our carts with this great soil amendment that we'll actually use during our bulb planting project.  We'll again offer castings at our spring plant sale in May.

I spent some time today touring the garden and looking at target shrubs with Urban.  I had a great stroll and have still not noticed signifcant deer damage although there is plenty of evidence of their garden explorations.  I also put together more information for my seminar tonight (6:30 pm at RBG) regarding a "Behind the Scenes Look at the HLS" which should be fun.  We've done this event for so many years and we get plenty of questions from the public on how we approach the set-up of this event.  I also continue to examine catalogs and organize my 2012 photos.  I think I took my personal record of photos this year but am pleased with the overall quality of the images.  Directly below is the backlit leaf of a purple weeping European beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Purple Fountain').  The next photo down shows the golden cast on the needles of the 'Gold Coin' Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris).  This specimen will get increasingly more golden througout the winter.  The next photo down shows the interesting bark and form of the Turkish filbert (Corylus colurna) in the arboretum.  This urban-tolerant tree has a nice, narrow form and is quite durable in a wide range of settings.  Unfortunately, it's not well known and definitely under-planted in our landscapes.  Note the geese further below that continue to congregate in our pond.  I think they're waiting for a free lights show!

Tuesday Tasks

My blog titles are becoming less creative which indicates an end to the year and pending mental collapse on my part!  Today was another chilly one but certainly not unbearable.  We saw many volunteers around the Horticulture Center and gardens this morning in particular.  The top image shows the browning leaves of our rare, hornbeam maple (Acer carpinifolium).  Note the very uncharacteristic maple leaves that really do resemble those of the hornbeam (Carpinus sp.) with those ridged leaves.  This maple, native to Japan, is in our Japanese garden and also gets a nice yellow fall color.  Directly above is the tuber oat grass (Arrhenatherum elatius) which really enjoys the cooler portions of the year.  It gets a strong flush in early April, limps thru the summer (even dying back during a drought) and then pokes back up in October.  This specimen, in the woodland walk hasn't received enough cold to call it quits for the year (yet).  Directly below are the cones of the Japanese hemlock (Tsuga diversifolia) in the gazebo garden.  The next photo down features the ornamental stems of two of our many red-stemmed dogwoods (Cornus sp.) out in the gardens.  We have many grouping of both red-stemmed and yellow-stemmed dogwoods and they look great this time of year.  In March, we'll thin out some of the larger stems (about 1/3 per plant) on all of these to encourage new growth that will be the most colorful later in the year.  The variety pictured is 'Avalon Gold' which has bright yellow leaves in spring thru summer.

We saw Marianne this morning as she did some odd jobs at the Horticulture Center and processed more half gallon jugs (recently donated) for future use as luminaries for the Holiday Lights Show (HLS).  Urban came in and helped the guys with various projects and Bill O. helped Larry with various tasks throughout the day.  Dr. Gredler continued his painting progress on some containers and will soon be touching up our garbage bins this week.  We had our Garden Development & Maintenance Committee Meeting which included Dr. Gredler, Gary, Big John, Dick P., Maury, Christine R., Joanne A., Denise (RBG) and myself.  We covered lots of 2013 ideas and talked about some big picture improvements that we're hoping to secure for the future.  Maury and Dick then did some work out in the gardens.  Directly below is the interesting, corky, ridged bark of the Amur corktree (Phellodendron amurense) in the arboretum.  I like the foliage of this tree (nice yellow fall color) too but the bark is always intriguing.  Many of our youth programs that utilize the arboretum for programs will have the kids examine the bark textures of many trees.  This is one that gets lots of "hands on" attention as it is spongey to the touch.  The next shot down is an update on the 'Josef Lemper' Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) that continues to bloom thru these cooler days in the woodland walk garden.  I've found plenty of other hellebore buds forming on other plants but they'll be fine over the winter until warmer weather arrives in March.  The third photo down is the 'Pear Crisp' coral bell (Heuchera) still looking good with some bright foliage.

I had a meeting today and both Mary and I went on WCLO with Tim Bremel and promoted the heck out of the HLS.  Tim had been to the HLS as part of the Taste of Chocolate and was able to give his positive opinion about the experience.  We appreciate the opportunity to encourage attendance at this neat event (and vital fundraiser).  All the HLS dates, times, entertainment, etc. are on our website at www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org.  I also continue to go thru seed catalogs which is a three phase process.  I go thru the catalogs with a highlighter for Round 1. This round is where I circle all the new, cool and vital varieties for 2013.  Round 2 is the reality check as I start limiting selections based on what we can actually afford and fit in to the gardens.  Round 3 is filling out the order forms as I do one more glance thru the catalog.  It's a laborious process but one of my favorite tasks.  Directly below are two shots of a groundcover that, while I rarely recommend it, sure looks good late in the season.  This is the trailing yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon 'Variegatum') which is a member of the mint family and also called false lamium.  This groundcover is quite vigorous and should be contained.  It will outcompete neighboring plants so is effective in larger areas as you see it around this white pine (Pinus strobus) tree (directly below).  It is shade and drought tolerant and wants to thrive.  Note the maroon highlights to the leaves that appear this time of year.  I don't recommend this specific groundcover often as it can become a thug.  However, the third photo down shows the 'Herman's Pride' yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon) which is the same species and a nice clumper with all the same toughness.  It doesn't have late season color as you see below but is tough as well.  The bottom photo shows our newly redeveloped (2012) moss island looking nice and green.  Again, a job well done by Mr. Moss (Dale S.)!