Gradual Warming Trend

 

Today was another beautiful one as seen in the photos both above and below.  I love when the pond (3 acre) is still as reflections are really maximized. The daytime temperatures are creeping up there as are the evening temperatures.  We moved many of our tropicals and tender plants in to the greenhouses today to take advantage of the daytime heat as we’re getting less worried about severe frost.  We’ll see!  We had an amazing group of volunteers today and the entire grounds staff was here and was extremely productive.

 

Our volunteers included Nancy (above) who continued painting our giant Adirondack chair and many other items.  Kay (below) did a nice job tidying in three different areas and never had trouble finding weeds to decimate and debris to collect.  Kathy did a nice job continuing her substantial mulching project and Urban was in to size up some pruning for tomorrow.  Stan worked in the Japanese garden and Jumbo Jim stopped by to plan out some work later this week in the gardens.  Dr. Gredler went out for aerating and mowing while Bill O. also did some mowing after accomplishing some turf repair.  Bob K. was a big help with many tasks today. Maury ran errands for us and we also saw John J., Dr. Yahr, Lynn and many others today.

The grounds staff kept busy with myriad tasks.  Larry ran irrigation all day as we are still quite dry after missing the rain on Saturday.  Larry also repaired irrigation problems and helped prepare our water features.  Cindy and Cheryl worked together today on potting up tropicals, shifting plants out to the greenhouses (no small task) and did a super job tidying up in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children’s Garden.  Janice worked on Spring Plant Sale preparations, planting, watering, preparing the cutting display and other tasks.  Big John and Terry did a nice job installing obelisks, containers, signs and the guys helped get the wishing well moved successfully in to place (thanks Todd).  I worked on various projects and took advantage of the heat and sun to spray more herbicide in an area that really needed it!  Enjoy the color below (photos all from today).

 

the serviceberries (Amelanchier sp.) are starting to bloom
brilliant golden new growth of ‘Princeton Gold’ Norway maple (Acer platanoides)
daffodils (Narcissus) continue to look great
white checkered fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris ‘Alba’)
checkered fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)
‘Pinot Gris’ coral bells (Heuchera) with new growth
‘Banana Boat’ sedge (Carex siderosticha) looking good
barrenwort (Epimedium x rubrum) starting to bloom
emerging foliage of weeping larch (Larix decidua ‘Pendula’)
‘Golden Eclipse’ tree lilac (Syringa reticulata)