The last 24 hours have been interesting!  Last night we had Dr. Charles Mortensen facilitate a presentation and demonstration on bonsai with the help of his lovely wife, Helen.  We had a nice crowd and enjoyed learning about the interesting history of bonsai and may of the basics for planting, training and maintaining these treasures.  Around 7 pm, we could hear the pounding rain and hail coming down and during our break, we headed out to check on the gardens (see below).  Thankfully we ended up not having too much damage although it took all day to tidy up the gardens.  A special thanks to Dr. Mortensen for his wonderful program.  The rain looks like it will make a return appearance over the coming days!

I went on two plant runs today and left the gardens in the capable hands of our grounds staff (Larry O., Cindy B., Trevor and Nolan) and our many volunteers.  There was a lot of clean-up going on out in the gardens as well as weeding, mowing and other tasks.

pea-sized hail came pounding down on Wednesday evening!

lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) – perennial

fragrant abelia (Abelia mosanensis) – woody shrub (very sweet smelling!)

‘Copper Ridges’ doublefile viburnum (Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum) – woody shrub

‘Hartlage Wine’ sweetshrub (Calycanthus raulstonii) – woody shrub

‘Liberty’ plantain lily (Hosta) – perennial

nice to have two of these at the gardens to help gently guide behavior at the gardens (which seems pretty obvious to most of us…)

‘Wredei’ golden elm (Ulmus x hollandica) – woody tree

‘Paltec’ hybrid iris (Iris hybrida) – perennial

‘Mount Everest’ ornamental onion (Allium sp.) – perennial

After working yesterday morning, I headed up north with the ultimate destination visiting my old stomping grounds of Little Chute, WI (near Appleton).  My first job out of college (1993) was at the Vande Hey Company, Inc. working in their garden center and doing smaller scaled landscape designs.  They asked me to do a presentation last night and I was happy to get back up there and connect with Terry, Linda, Scooby, Todd, Andy and many others that have been there since the time I left back in 1994.  The presentation went well and it was interesting to see the scope of the operation which has increased dramatically.  There is still lots of development and new houses up in that area and landscape maintenance continues to be highly sought after by many.

My trip though, took me on an enjoyable visit first to Olbrich Botanical Gardens (Madison, WI) where I enjoyed the gardens and ran in to Jeff, Samara and Philip out working in the gardens.  I rarely escape RBG in May so took LOTS of photos and really enjoyed exploring the entire garden.  I’ve gone through Olbrich for over 20 years and saw some interesting plants I had not noticed in the past.  I then visited Green Bay Botanical Gardens and caught significant color as well.  As I drove north, it was exciting to see that the increasing latitude revealed the continuation of significant color from bulbs and other early bloomers (crabapples, magnolias, etc.) that are past peak in our area of the state.  Needless to say, it was another great visit.

I didn’t get out in the gardens much today and arrived back late this morning.  I did see Kathy P., Eva, Barb, Gena, Sue M., Nancy, Myrt, Jim H., three RECAPPERS, Barb C. and many others.  We also saw Maryam, Becky and lots of pop in visitors!  The grounds staff of Larry O., Trevor and Bobby K. all had a very busy day to say the least.  Heavy rains coming sporadically over the coming days….

Olbrich Botanical Gardens – Herb Garden above and below

neat lettuce (Lactuca) display

Jeff Epping, Director of Horticulture at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, showing off his carpentry skills

‘Yellow Bird’ magnolia (Magnolia x brooklynensis) – woody tree

one of many peony (Paeonia) varieties at peak bloom right now (most not showing color yet!)

lots of interesting art installations out around the gardens

shade border featuring ‘All Gold’ golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) – perennial

‘Atropurpurea’ purple English oak (Quercus robur) – woody tree

Green Bay Botanical Garden was really at spring peak during my visit (above and all below)

awesome conifer garden (above)

neat fairy garden

“Hobbit-style” bathroom

new amphitheater being developed!

Today was our Spring Plant Sale Clearance which saw some action but the crowds were never overwhelming.  A big thanks to Tina, Marleen, El and Joy who ran the sale today as the rest of us headed in to the gardens on this beautiful spring day.  Nice shot above of ‘Blue Danube’ wild hyacinth (Camassia leichtlinii) combined with ‘Purple Sensation’ ornamental onions (Allium sp.).

The grounds crew had a busy day.  Cindy tidied, watered, weeded and planted.  She also potted up some new trial plants.  Larry H. continued mulching, planted perennials, installed signs and worked on some weed control issues.  Larry also made a run for plants after John returned from his trip.  John also put up all of our hanging baskets and secured them, took down the plant sale parking lot stakes/ropes and installed a new memorial bench.  Larry O. checked water features, weed whipped and helped our irrigation guys with some troubleshooting issues.  Trevor started back for his third summer and jumped right in to hauling topsoil, creating a mulch path and watering.  I was able to get out in the gardens to capture the images you see here and to place some plants for installation but most of my time was spent in the plant sale clearance.  It was a busy day.

red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) – woody tree

‘Tricolor’ Corneliancherry dogwood (Cornus mas) – woody tree

Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica ‘Queen of Pink’s) – perennial

Beaver Creek® witch alder (Fothergilla gardenii ‘KLMtwo’) – woody shrub

The photo above of Jan and Joe was taken on Sunday as they were two of our many, excellent volunteers out in the sale over this past weekend.  Our volunteers are so valuable and essential to everything we do at RBG, whether it is special events, gardening, education, tours, gift shop, etc.  Today was no exception for having excellent volunteers.  Ron R., Lloyd and Alan helped take down a tent then worked on tidying up the mulched tree circles in the arboretum.  Kathy and Eva did a nice job weeding in the shade garden.  Kristin, Stan, Greg and Cheryl all did some excellent work tidying in the Japanese garden.  Ron Y., Dave, Vern and Jim all had carpentry projects to accomplish.  Dennis J. worked along with Garrett and Wendy on the North path boulder wall (see directly below) which is coming along well.  Marv B. tidied up both of his moss areas which are looking excellent.  Dick H. ran to the dump and finished processing new aluminum plant sale labels.  Maury ran more errands for us and both Dr. Gredler and Maury mowed.  Bill O. and Dave K. worked on repairing some equipment after Bill finished mowing.  Becky was in to work on re-lettering our quote benches and she sure has a steady hand!  Barb C. spent some time working in the Giant Aquarium.  We also saw Don A., Mark S., Del, Marsha M., Cheryl D. and many others today.

Garrett, Wendy and Dennis (left to right)

Becky

Eva

Kathy P.

Marv B.

‘Herman’s Pride’ yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon) – perennial

‘Kokumon’ tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) – woody shrub

umbrella leaf (Dyphylleia cymosa) – perennial

shooting stars (Dodocatheon sp.) – perennial

flower of the Mayapple (Podphyllum peltatum) – perennial

variegated horsechestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum ‘Variegata’) – woody tree

prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) – perennial

flowers of the ‘Royal Cloak’ barberry (Berberis thunbergii) – woody shrub

above are just some of our many annuals poised and ready for installation!

The Spring Plant Sale today went well with a strong turnout throughout the day.  The weather was perfect after some light sprinkles disappeared and we had sunshine and temperatures in the upper 70 degrees F.  Our volunteers did a wonderful job as usual and we’ll hope for another strong day tomorrow.  These photos highlight the event and some other action at the gardens on this busy weekend.

the Blackhawk Golden Kiwanis Club Tree Sale went well for its second and final day today

Grandma Sue and Lily

Larry H., Pete and Dylan (left to right)

Russ (left) and Stan with the live remote radio truck in the background

Lily taking a well-deserved break

Cindy (left) and Tina

a bus (from Green Bay) stopped by the sale yesterday and they had only visited us as the second (of three) stops to buy plants…not much room left!

Members of the Wisconsin Woody Plant Society toured the gardens today and we had a great time.  Above is the crew with Dr. Edward Hasselkus (salmon shirt), Dr. Glenn Herold (white shirt in center) and many others including some staff from Boerner Botanical Gardens (Hales Corners, WI).  The group enjoyed the tour on this beautiful day and the above photo shows their plant exchange.

awesome Robin’s nest photo shared by Greg P.

The first official day of the Spring Plant Sale for the public started promptly at 9 am today.  The Golden Kiwanis Tree Sale was also occurring today (8 am – 4 pm) and both sales saw steady traffic.  Above are just some of the basils (Ocimum basilicum) still available at the sale.  We should have an excellent selection of plants throughout the duration of the sale which continues both this Saturday and Sunday from 9 am until 6 pm.

We had great volunteer assistance at the sale today and also had garden volunteers (Kathy, Eva, Vicki and Peg) doing work as well.  Larry H. and Cindy B. had plenty of gardening tasks today including a run to K&W Greenery to pick up more of our plants  Janice and I were primarily in the plant sale today to help keep things running smoothly.  Janice has superior organizational skills!  We had lots of excellent volunteers assisting today.

Directly above (and below) are many of the critters that will go in the Giant Aquarium garden this year where we’ll interpret the story Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae.  This display is developed and promoted as a partnership with our local Hedberg Public Library.  Further below are the laminated pages of the story that will be installed out in the gardens for visitors to read as they enjoy that garden space.

‘Green Jay’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Cummins’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Kingsblood’ tulip (Tulipa)

‘Pink Diamond’ tulip (Tulipa)

hybrid magnolia (Magnola sieboldii x tripetala) – woody tree

Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) – perennial

one of two resident geese families at the gardens right now