Of Bricks and Bulbs

Just a little “behind-the-scenes” update that spring is hitting full speed at the gardens in many ways. Bulbs are emerging quickly with many of our earliest bulbs like snowdrops (Galanthus sp.), Danford irises (Iris danfordiae), winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) and glory-in-the-snow (Chionodoxa) blooming strongly.  We now also have the start of Siberian squill (Scilla siberica), striped squill (Puschkinia libanotica), crocuses (Crocus sp.) and much more!  Some of these gems can be seen at the bottom of this post (photos from last week).

We are also having some much needed work done on the original brick walls surrounding the English cottage garden.  This donor-funded project has been much needed over the last couple of years as we’ve had some bricks in this wall crack and pulverize.  The mortar also needed some tuck pointing updates as well.  The original wall was built in 1989 with help from the General Motors Jobs Bank program, volunteer masons Harold Todd and Cal as well as participants in the Wisconsin Conservation Corps.  The seven photos below show the early days of the English cottage garden wall.  The other photos show the current work being done on the wall to replace bricks and address tuck pointing needs as are necessary.

Harold Todd (above)

‘Pink Giant’ glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa forbesii)

striped squill (Puschkinia libanotica)

‘Blue Giant’ glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa forbesii)

Siberian squill (Scilla siberica)