The rain held off today with the exception of a couple of light sprinkles here and there. The day was extremely productive with our grounds staff and volunteers “firing on all cylinders”! Terry, Larry, Big John, Brian, Sean and Chuck all had busy days with a wide range of tasks including weeding, mulching, composting, edging, rototilling, lawn repair, plant inventories, plant pick-ups and much more! During the day, our volunteers of Kathy, Eva, Kay, Kath, Sandi, Terri, Barb, Dennis, Bill, Dave and many more accomplished a wide range of tasks. We also had 16! volunteers at our Wednesday evening volunteer work evening (see above) with great help from Tina and John. Thanks to the evening crew and their productivity. The gang planted in earnest and I was hard pressed to keep up! Great progress!

I ran a whole lot of plants out today (this was one of five loads I hauled out)
NightSky® petunia (Petunia) – above
red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) – woody tree (above)
ornamental onions (Allium sp.) are going strong!
purple gromwell (Buglossoides purpurocaerulea) – perennial (above) – SPREADS!
‘Sutherland Gold’ cutleaf elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) – woody shrub (above)
‘Toba’ hawthorn (Crataegus x mordenensis) – woody tree (above)
Leslie did a great job planting tonight
Sue C. did an awesome job planting tonight!

We had some light drizzle this morning which later transformed in to a significant and pounding deluge. We accomplished quite a few indoor tasks and the grounds crew (Cindy, Larry H., Brian and Bobby K.) all had projects to contend with during the inclement weather. We did duck outside for some gardening but Mother Nature prodded us inside with consistent rainfall. Our volunteers (Kathy, Eva, Urban, Bill, Dave K., Steve, Barb, Marlene, Mary, Jenny, Bill, Dave and others) had a busy day…primarily inside. The sun peaked out later in the afternoon but it was a damp day overall which may thwart some of our planting plans at the Volunteer Work Day tomorrow…although we’ll have gardening projects regardless. Planting in mud isn’t desirable or ideal! :(

shredded umbrella plant (Syneilesis aconitifolia) – perennial (above)
spring growth on ‘Ghost’ ferns (Athyrium hybrida) – perennial (above)
spring growth of ‘Autumn Moon’ fullmoon maple (Acer shirasawanum) – woody tree (above)
‘Moon Frost’ Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) – woody tree
unknown bearded iris (Iris germanica) – perennial (above)
‘Wallowa Mountains’ sandwort (Arenaria sp.) – perennial (above)
rock jasmine (Androsace sarmentosa ‘Chumbyi’) in the alpine garden – perennial (above)
trailing yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon ‘Variegatum’) – SPREADER! (but beautiful perennial)
moss island punctuated by Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum) – above
Siebold’s magnolia hybrid (Magnolia sieboldii – unknown parents – hybrid) – woody plant (above)
‘Cutting Edge’ stonecrop (Sedum ellacombianum) – perennial (above)
FrostKiss™ Penny’s Pink® hellebore (Helleborus x iburgensis ‘ABCRD01’) – perennial (above)
Sunjoy Gold Pillar® Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii ‘Maria’) – woody shrub (above)
sweet new “Grappler” attachment for our new CASE endloader…super handy! – Larry H. is the driver with Bill W. (our sales rep)

The last couple of days have been a whirlwind continuation of our whirlwind approach to spring planting, weeding and garden preparations. The cooler weather has continued along with some timely rainfall as we begin our serious planting season. Our volunteer planting evening on Wednesday night had 10 helpful volunteers along with John and myself. The rain caught up to us but not before we put in a couple thousand more plants. Many volunteers (Sandi, Terri, Kay, Marleen, Kath, etc.) are already actively planting in their assigned garden areas and I’m endeavoring daily to keep a step ahead of our planters. In the meantime, many other gardening tasks can’t be neglected as our focus shifts to planting. We continue to work on spring clean-up, edging, water feature work, weeding, mowing and much more. We are also keeping an eye on many trees and shrubs that were damaged our outright killed this past winter. Some are late to leaf out but others have likely perished…time will tell. We’ve had very solid turnouts of volunteers over the last couple of days and look forward to continued, collective progress!

‘Miranda’ variegated climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomola ssp. petiolaris) – woody vine (above)
‘Sunglow’ golden vine maple (Acer circinatum) – woody tree (above)
variegated waygfaringtree viburnum (Viburnum lantana ‘Variegatum’) – woody shrub (above)
the moss island is looking great!
our boulder wall softened by ‘All Gold’ Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial (above)
‘Liberty’ hosta (Hosta) – perennial (above)
wild hyacinth (Camassia leichtlinii ‘Blue Danube’) – perennial bulb (above)
Sandi (left) and Terri did some serious planting on Wednesday near the gazebo
upright wild ginger (Saruma henryi) – perennial (above)
European ginger (Asarum europaeum) – perennial (above)
“cool critter components” of our future StoryWalk theme from the imaginative mind of Barb C. and other education volunteers….
spring foliage above of Epimedium x versicolor ‘Cupreum’ (barrenwort)
quamash (Camassia cusickii) – perennial bulb (above)
‘Pumpkin Spice’ foamy bells (xHeucherella) – perennial (above)
at our Volunteer planting event last night (Wednesday), this little guy was a casual observer!

While the weather was primarily cool and overcast today, we had a remarkable turnout of volunteers helping out in the gardens throughout the day. Our break room was totally full and we saw lots of folks coming and going and working on a wide range of projects. I’ll likely miss a couple of folks but I recall seeing Kathy, Eva, Bonnie, Shirley, Barb, Marleen, Dr. Gredler, Tina, Dave, Jim, Steve J., Dick H., Larry O., Maury, Alan, Bob K., Lloyd, Urban, Barb, Sandi, Kay and many others. Our grounds crew of Cindy, Big John, Terry, Larry H., Sean, Chuck and Brian all had a wide range of duties. We brought back more plants for the gardens from our suppliers and have more yet to come. It was a crazy busy day but that’s how we roll. I had my camera with me today so caught some nice color…

‘Golden Gift’ magnolia (Magnolia sp.) – woody tree (above)
our volunteers created this fenced holding area to hopefully dissuade the deer from nibbling!
Chinese woodland peony (Paeonia veitchii) – perennial (above)
‘Running Tapestry’ foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) – perennial (above)
nice shot in the Japanese garden this morning – redbud (Cercis canadensis) in the distance…
‘June Fever’ plantain lily (Hosta) – perennial (above)
seed head of pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) above – perennial
pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) – perennial (above)
bugleweed (Ajuga sp.) – perennial (above) – unknown variety
‘Candy Stripe’ creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) – perennial (above)
Golden Shadows® pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia ‘W. Stackman’) – woody tree (above)
‘Wildwood Twist’ Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) – perennial (above)
Tina B. (above) was tidying her assigned garden area today in preparation for planting
Chuck (above) – new grounds dude (but longtime volunteer)
Barb (left) and Marleen doing lots of planting today!

The weather held nicely today and we had a very successful volunteer planting Saturday at the gardens. With the threat of possible rain over the last 24 hours and some dampness on Friday, we were worried that we might have to cancel our scheduled workday but the forecast looked good this morning and the garden wasn’t too muddy. Today was the first of many workdays for planting this year. We have five sequential Saturdays (this being the first of five) as well as a Saturday in October. We also have four Wednesday evening planting scenarios (starting next Wednesday from 6 pm – 8 pm). That’s how I come up with ten! We had 30 volunteers helping today along with staff assistance from Big John and Laura. Of these 30 helpful sets of hands, I had 20 volunteers planting in the Wellness Garden (see below) and we also had the duos of Janice & Mike and Kath & Marleen planting in other areas. Ken and Chris ran the bagged compost sale while Dr. Gredler was out aerating lawns. Bill, Dave and Larry O. were also in to help with myriad projects including equipment repair. The Janesville Area Herb Society also had their monthly meeting and did some work out in the gardens. It was a busy morning followed by some timely rain! Below are some of our great volunteers!