Whittling Away...

The before and after shots above sum up our productive Saturday work day. We had about 25 people show up to help plant our largest annual bed at Rotary Gardens. We put in about 6,000 annuals in this location and three other volunteers planted an additional 1,000 annuals in another location. It's nice to see our supply of "yet to be planted" diminish as a result of so much volunteer help. We'll continue to plant thru the coming weeks and are pleased with our progress thus far. More rain and flooding is on the way and will affect the gardens again. Our pond is on the rise and will probably surpass earlier "high water marks" by next Wednesday. Downtown Janesville is beginning to take on more water as well. Yes our lawns are all a lush green but what a price to pay as Mother Nature again shows us who's in charge!

I took the image at the top of the post at the home of Nancy, one of our RG volunteers. This is the "tumbleweed onion" (Allium schubertii). Planted as a bulb in October, it has enormous, 12-15" diameter bloom "spheres" in June. It is only 18" tall but packs a lot of punch. I feel it is marginally hardy and/or very touchy in terms of becoming perennial. We've had it bloom at Rotary Gardens but not last more than 2 years in the ground. What an "other wordly" look though!

Another Frantic Friday

Note the beautiful, fragrant valerian (Valeriana officinalis) above. The flower clusters have a superb scent although this perennial will reseed and spread quite vigorously. Valerian has many herbal and medicinal uses dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. We keep two large clumps in our Scottish garden with the understanding that any "strays" will be destroyed.

Today was another crazy Friday. We came in to a light mist which didn't stop us from hitting the ground running with hauling plants out for our work day, planting, weeding, tidying, path clean-up, etc. We had plenty of rain yesterday thru last night so have to deal with the repercussions around the gardens. Marv and Terry went and picked up our annual vinca (Catharanthus) collection that Marianne is already sorting for planting next week. It sounds like we'll have more flooding soon as some rains from further north make their way down the Rock River thru Janesville. Riverfront businesses including our library are building sand bag bunkers to help prevent the inevitable.

The image to the left is of the arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) in bloom. Later this native shrub will develop blue berries (tasty for birds) and sometimes a nice fall color depending on the variety. Mature height can be 8-10' but for those that like a more compact variety, look for 'Little Joe' for half that height with all the same features. Neat, late blooming bulb below. Ornithagalum (forgot the species of this one) has come back for many years for us and has wonderful spires of clear white blooms.

Doppler Radar - Lots of Action

We were able to do quite a bit of planting today with showers looming. The rain started around noon and aside from some brief moments between showers, it's been raining all evening as well. I would say that we have plenty of moisture for now. The image above is of some (20%?) of our annuals still left in the yard waiting for a home. We'll take a good crack at them on Saturday and will spend tomorrow cleaning up paths and wedding sites for weekend visitors.

The image to the left is of an exciting new, variegated lemon basil (Ocimum) called 'Pesto Perpetuo'. I saw mature specimens up at the UW-West Madison Ag Station last summer and was amazed at its perfect upright/rounded shape. It looked like a variegated boxwood from a distance. The uniformity of the plants was amazing and it is truly an "ornamental edible" with a use in the kitchen as well.

Our lime obelisk is quite a focal point in that shady corner. Visitors entering the Parker Center can see this showy obelisk out the windows. We've planted the copper cheese vat that is the container with 'Molten Lava' oxalis and 'Scarlet Pimpernel' caladium. These plants will augment that obelisk and create a real bright spot. With all the rain and moisture we've had this spring, we'll have a easier time maintaining our mushroom collection (joke) than our plants! We are worried about mildew and other fungal issues but will deal with that accordingly....

Priority Planting

Last weekend, the area above was filled with ornamental onions (Allium). Past post photos showed all the "puff balls on a stick". Past peak and starting to go dormant, we cut down the alliums early in the week and weeded the beds. Today, Marv and Terry secured the yellow obelisks and got the beds prepped. These sections, defined by boxwoods, will include "ornamental edibles". That is, all the plants in these beds will be beautiful but will also have an edible or culinary use. We planted three areas today in anticipation of more rain coming soon (tomorrow?). We had Art, Kay, Geesje, Chris, Bob and many others here today helping to plant. We're doing well but will still need the remainder of the month to finish up. Sorry for the brevity tonite but I'm falling asleep as I type and gibberish is running rampant. Check out the neat foliage of this Shantung maple (Acer truncatum 'Akikaze Nishiki'). Subtle variegation....

Sunshine Finally Won A Round!

The climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris) is in full bloom right now as two specimens engulf the archway separating our reception garden from the sunken garden. This plant tends to be weakly attached but has done well here as it has a hidden rod to help guide it. I never realized the the blooms are slightly fragrant. Regardless, it's looking good right now.

We had lots of sunshine today and I had four groups of volunteers to coordinate. Three of the groups were planting their assigned areas and the other group was clearing spent Allium foliage from an area that we will finish preparing and hopefully plant tomorrow. The gardens were busy with all sorts of tours, classes and seminars. I had to give an impromptu tour today and spent some time laying out and collecting plants for upcoming projects. We have a skeleton crew on Tuesdays but were fortunate to have such great volunteers come in today.

A neat plant to the left that many visitors have been asking about is viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare). We sow this European native as seed in very early April. By early June, the flower spires have emerged and that deep blue is very conspicuous. This plant is easiest grown from seed but the warning is that it does drop seed readily and creates a thicket for the next year. It takes a bit of elbow grease to manually remove this plant but I love it for the contribution of azure blue at 18-20".

Analogy. If all the spring bulbs are nature's fireworks show, the plant to the right is that exciting end of the show. The foxtail lily or desert candle (Eremurus sp.) is planted in fall as a tuberous root. It is marginally hardy here and really requires perfect drainage. The bloom stalk you see is actually over 6' tall and I've seen them taller than that! Native to Asia, this plant is exciting in June as it closes out the bulb season with the exception of some late Alliums. This plant later goes dormant after the blooms fade and the foliage withers (late July). We've planted hundreds of these and have only established about eight nice specimens that seem to enjoy their location. Research planting methods prior to purchasing this plant (expensive) as there are some tricks.

The image below is another from this past Saturday's work day where the crew was planting our orange and blue theme throughout our "three flags berm" along Palmer Drive. This is one of the most visible berms as it is front and center along the roadway with thousands passing daily. We hope to have a similiarly successful Saturday volunteer work day this weekend (how's that for alliteration?).

We're "Weathering" Along...

This is what greeted us today at the gardens. After 5 inches of rain over the weekend, strong winds and sprinkles this morning, I thought we'd have a "lost day" of staying inside. The rain held off and we really needed to get out and clean up paths. Two Bradford pears (Pyrus calleryana) had split open due to the high winds. This is no surprise as they are notoriously soft wooded with weak branch attachments. They are a beautiful tree though. We had to remove these entirely and spent the morning cleaning up branches, debris and actually were able to do some weeding and bed preparation in the "less soggy" areas. The Grumpy turnout was great and we were able to get a nice group photo of the gang for our history brochure. Marv and Terry continued work on their limestone steps (see to the right) which are turning out awesome. Getting these steps selected, placed, leveled, backfilled, etc. is truly an art form.
Our cottonwood seedlings have already germinated around the gardens and it's a depressing sight to see the "haze" of millions (I am not kidding) little seedlings that will have to be addressed in short order. I spray many with RoundUp and we get them early with hand hoes but they have literally invaded every inch of exposed soil, cracks between bricks and along gravel paths. This is an annual event and we'll get thru it as time allows. Lots of planting on the horizon; tomorrow in fact!





In our climate, I feel the perennial with the longest "bloom window" is the yellow fumitory (Corydalis lutea). In the image to the left, you see many specimens throughout our shade garden. It is only 12" tall with delicate, light blue/green foliage (reminiscent of bleeding heart) topped with yellow blooms from late April until hard frost in October or even November. This plant prefers part shade and tolerates a wide range of soils. It does self-sow readily so you will see colonies forming as the babies emerge. It is easy to "thin the herd" as we do every year. I'm always impressed with this plant and I can take the same picture in the same location in late September and it will look the same in terms of flower power. Highly recommended. Below is a neat shrub called dappled willow (Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki') that has whitish, speckled new growth with hints of pink and salmon. Left alone, this shrub can get 8-12' tall. However, we cut it back to 6" every winter and watch the explosion of fresh new growth that will shoot up to 3-4' during the season. We do this "severe cutback" every year to encourage the most colorful growth and to also maintain a more compact size.

Sunday Showers

Above is a nice shot of our alpine garden. This is the area where we are amassing a small collection of dwarf and miniature conifers. We received a grant from the American Conifer Society that will allow us to install more signage, plant new conifers and even add some neat bulbs this fall. Grants and donations above and beyond what is given for operations (also vital) are what really make the difference in terms of active development. Budget issues have made it tough to even maintain the status quo.

I didn't get in to work today but accomplished a lot at home in between showers. I think our Saturday plantings have been watered in sufficiently by now! Tomorrow we'll look for washed out paths and possible tree branches and other debris that needs attention. We have a wonderful group of Master Gardeners (Rock Prairie Master Gardeners) that come in on Sundays to water. Their talents were probably not needed today but these volunteers have really become a huge asset in terms of watering (and allow me to avoid 3-6 hours of watering every Sun. at the gardens!). They are also vital with planting and maintaining the gardens as well as facillitating various special events.

Dick, one of our Grumpies, welded us this new support post for our mailbox. The snowplows of this past winter destroyed the previous mailbox (understandably) due to the volume of snow and ice that had to be removed from Palmer Drive. This post system is industrial and note the two little planters we'll be able to put plants in down low! A local artist friend of Dick's painted the mailbox and we're happy to have it out along our road (even if it doesn't go with the orange and blue theme behind it!).

Note the Allium 'Globemaster' below which is a real solid perennial for us. While I've seen most of our fall-planted Alliums come back every year, the diameter of the umbel (flower cluster sphere) decreases a little bit each year. These 'Globemaster' alliums below are roughly 5" in diameter. The first spring after planting, they were about 8" in diameter. This subtle decrease has occurred over the past 8 years or so. Mail order bulb catalogs show a picture of this bulb and it's enormous. We don't mind the change and are happy to have early June covered with masses of alliums. Note the Star of Persia (Allium christophii) at the bottom. At 15" in height, the sphere is enormous (8-10" in diameter) and has a "metallic violet" appearance. Once dried, the umbel is a nice contribution to a dried arrangement.