Plant Sale Looming

The continued Fall Plant Sale preparations started in earnest this morning as we had a great crew of volunteers arrive to help set up the sale and price the thousands of excellent plants we’ve brought in this year.  We had additional deliveries today and will finish our pricing and “layout tweaks” yet tomorrow. with another crew.  Giant mums are only $8 this year and perennial asters (seen directly below) are only $5!  See rotarygardens.wpengine.com for more information on this fundraising event. RBG Members are invited to the Members Only! Pre-Sale on Friday, September 11th (9 am – 4 pm) where they get the best selection and a 10% discount that extends over the duration of the sale.

Janice did a nice job with this enticing “Come to Our Plant Sale!” display at the Parker Education Center
 above is Cheryl in the expansive shrub selection
 coneflowers (Echinacea) abound!
 nice assortment of coral bells (Heuchera)
we have another wide selection of plants for the home garden!

We had great volunteer help today both with the plant sale and out in the gardens.  Chris and her son (above) were great price taggers this morning along with Sue (below).  The next photo down shows Tina (left) and Karen who did an excellent job tagging and shifting plants around.  The third photo (left to right) shows Cheryl, Pat, Renee and Rob pricing some of the many ornamental grasses that are part of the sale.  The fourth photo down shows Don and Pearl who traditionally help with the sale but also maintain an assigned garden space out in the gardens.  Other yard helpers included Pam, Vicki and Joy.  This group did great work and were helped by Janice and Cheryl.  We have another group coming tomorrow.  Inside the Horticulture Center, Patrea and Pat M. continued progress with Holiday Lights Show (HLS) preparations and more work with thousands of lights!  We also saw Joe B., Chuck S., Vern and many others today.
Out in the gardens, Dr. Gredler and Bill O. did some mowing.  Bill also worked on one of the mowers later.  Kathy and Eva tidied in the sunken garden and did an excellent job.  Kay was in to tidy her area as well which looked excellent for the tour tonight.  Mary, Gena, Myrt and Patti were in to help this afternoon with leaf collection in multiple areas.  The cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) are really starting to drop some leaves.  I’m sure there were other volunteers and I apologize for the failing memory after such a fast paced day!  Thanks to all that helped though!

The entire grounds crew was here again today.  Suffice it to say that Cindy, Cheryl, Bob, Larry, Terry, Big John and Janice had myriad tasks that revolved around watering, garden work and lots of plant sale preparations.  Actually, everyone helped to some degree or another with the plant sale which included the unloading of three more deliveries and some serious watering.  The teamwork was exceptional and RBG is lucky to have such a great grounds crew.  This time of year is “full speed ahead” with no shortage of tasks for our talented grounds staff.

We had over 50 members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society (WHPS) tour the gardens with me this evening!  Great weather, lighting and company!
Sue M. (left) and Christine R. set up the new (and totally awesome) Holiday Light Show (HLS) banner today.  Everyone coming in and/or out will see this now.