CAST - Day 1

Today I enjoyed travelling to three sites for the California Spring Trials (CAST).  I'm in Salinas, CA which is centrally located to visit all of the Northern CA sites for CAST.  There are many other locations further south but I wanted to do these justice.  I was the first to arrive at American Takii this morning and met the guy who had been sending us samples all of these years.  All of the sites today included representatives of other smaller nurseries, pot suppliers, etc. so I was able to see a wide range of product aside from plants.  I took MANY photos with these just being a very small fraction of course.  Today I saw American Takii, HMA Plants, Hilverdakooij (Dutch), Sakata Seed, Pacific Plug & Liner, Cohen Propagation Nursery, Hishtil (Israel), Jaldety, MPS and the Sunset Western Garden Collection.  This was just the first day with much more to come!  The weather here is in the 60s and has been rainy recently.  Almost all of the trials I viewed today were in massive greenhouses.  I'll blog over the coming days as well to share my adventures.  Included at the bottom are some shots of the ocean which beckoned within sight many times today!

Blog Brevity

Hi All.  Apologies for not being more consistent this week with my daily blog.  This time of year is full of challenges and finding the time has been difficult with many hoops and hurdles to navigate.  I lost internet access on Tuesday which made that day a little more challenging as well.  Regardless, despite some rainy/snowy weather these last two days, we've had excellent volunteer help from Kay (above), Gena, Myrt, Patty, Nancy, Kathy, Eva, Dr. Gredler, Gary, Alan, Lloyd, Peg, Dave, Vern, Ron P., Gene, Bob C., Maury, Gary, Terri, Sandy and many others.  Having most of our grounds staff in action this week (John, Terry, Cindy, Janice, Larry H. and Bob K.) has been nice as well.  Lots of painting has occurred as seen in these photos although we're not neglecting the gardens as flowers continue to slowly emerge even on these colder days.

Terri and Sandy (right)

Myrt

Nancy

Gena and Patty (right)

Alan on the left and Gary on the right with our big chairs...or are these guys just really small?

Start Of A Chilly Week

It was a chilly start to the morning with temperatures never reaching 40 degrees F on this overcast day.  The rest of the week looks wet and chilly too after a 70 degree day yesterday.  There is plenty of color out in the gardens like the 'Grape Galaxy' hellebore (Helleborus) seen above.  Many of our earliest spring blooming bulbs are peaking or past peak and we're seeing a transition to the daffodils (Narcissus) right now.  Our grounds staff started back officially today and everyone hit the ground running.  We have an aggressive spring planned and it was nice to accomplish so much today with both staff and volunteers.  I'm back on track to include "photos of the day" in the majority of these blog postings over the next 5-6 months.

 'Golden Lotus' hellebore (Helleborus) - perennial

hellebore (Helleborus purpurascens) - perennial

'Green Gambler' hellebore (Helleborus) - perennial

 'Pink Surprise' grape hyacinth (Muscari) - perennial

 'Katharine Hodgkin' reticulated iris hybrid (Iris hybrida) - perennial

It was a solid turnout of volunteers today.  We had busy crews out in the gardens and inside at the Horticulture Center.  The volunteer photos all have additional text.  Peg (above) tidied in the Scottish garden while Cheryl D. focused on the sunken garden.  Kathy and Eva tidied in the woodland walk garden and later moved on to the fern & moss garden.  I got the message that they found two "broken trees" in that garden and later went down to see the remains of two trees that a beaver(s) found (see further below).  Lloyd worked on more mulching in the main parking lot.  Marv B. was handy with our end loader in removing former elements of the Jungle Garden theme.  Dr. Gredler and Alan painted while Vern, Jim and Dave focused on more carpentry projects.  Bob C. and Gene continued sanding and staining benches while Ron Y. worked on priming some new chairs.  Dick H. ran to the dump, picked up fuel and helped here and there.  Gary worked on sign/label production while Maury ran errands.  We also saw Rollie, Marsha M. and many others today.

I neglected to take many photos of our photogenic grounds staff today but they continue to impress.  Cindy and Larry H. processed some gardening items and later went out to work in different garden areas.  Cindy continued clean-up efforts while Larry H. helped Marv with relocating our "Giant Rulers."  Larry also worked on a lot of mulching.  Big John and Terry brought our Abyssinian bananas (Ensete ventricosum 'Maurellii)  from the 'banana babysitter' (see further below) and moved on to getting chairs back in place and myriad other tasks.  Bobby K. helped disconnect some of our last major cords from the Holiday Light Show (HLS).  I was able to get out in the gardens quite a bit but my desk work regarding spring priorities calls me back often.

Maury and Bobby K. (right)

Marv B. pulling out a 10' tall ruler

Kathy (eyes shut) and Eva (right)

Cheryl D.

Gary S. - Master of Labels

Bob C.

Gene the Machine

Dave T.

Vern

Ron Y. (handy with a brush)

 'Jetfire' daffodils (Narcissus)

Cornliancherry dogwood (Cornus mas) - woody tree

miniature daffodils (Narcissus) in the alpine garden

 pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) emerging - perennial

 beaver damage - two trees gone!

our grove of Abyssinian bananas (Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii') returned today

Striped Squill (Puschkinia)

While none of these photos of the striped squill (Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica) were taken this spring, I could have taken similar photos today though as this early bloomer is quite evident right now.  This fall planted bulb is native to the Caucasus region and prefers moist but well-drained soils in full to part sun.  Only 5"-6" in height, mass plantings of these can be very effective and are also strong growers under trees where they will get ample light right now before the overhead canopy fills in over the coming months.  While our tulips (Tulipa) and crocuses (Crocus sp.) are being decimated by deer and rabbits, striped squill is left alone.  It naturalizes well and forms colonies over time.  This is also a good candidate for a "bulb lawn" where striped squill comes up now through mostly dormant turf and does "its thing" before you need to do some mowing.  Regardless, striped squills are tough as nails and are great for early impact.

Today was fairly quiet at the gardens although we did have some visitors out there enjoying the gardens.  Eva was out doing some clean-up near the sunken garden while Bill O. helped with some tasks at the Horticulture Center.  Maury ran some errands and we also saw Jean S., Bev D. and a couple of others.  Spring preparations are my order of business right now.  Enjoy the photos of striped squill and look closely at the flower details.

note the early pollinator in action