It was a beautiful day for our annual Home Garden Tour! With temperatures in the mid 80 degrees F, hundreds of tour participants enjoyed seeing the eight garden sites with a wide range of garden styles, features and plants; like the shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) seen above at the Maciolek garden. A sincere thank you to the six sets of homeowners that shared their gardens for this event as well as those involved with the Craig High School courtyard gardens and the Rock County Community Garden. We also had over 70 volunteers involved with facilitating this event and dozens of musicians that donated their skills and efforts to this vital RBG fundraiser. I always enjoy viewing the gardens and ran in to many volunteers and supporters of RBG. We'll see what the final attendance will be but I'm more pleased with all the positive comments that I heard about the event. Below are just some of the highlights of the successful 2013 RBG Home Garden Tour. These locations are simply in the order that I visited them. I'll try to blog from the Perennial Plant Association National Conference (Vancouver) over the coming week as time (and energy!) allows. Maciolek garden (Susan M. in the pink, second from right) Boston fern in desk container at Maciolek's bee balm (Monarda sp.) peaking at Maciolek residence back deck at Maciolek residence with live music tomatoes at Maciolek garden in grow bags Miller residence back yard border front entrance planters at Miller residence volunteer docents at Miller's (Mary D., Werner L. and Rose Marie L.) left to right, note neat prairie in the background accent annuals at Miller residence (front door) fancy garden shed at Miller garden prairie garden at Maher residence peak summer color in Maher prairie predator control on bluebird house Hal and Doris R. (RBG volunteers) at Maher residence Kelley & Jim Frey colorful, full sun entrance border at Frey residence live music at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence Rock County Community Farm Jim H. (far right) leading one of many tours vertical garden at Rock County Community Garden Laura B. and Kelli C. (both former RBG employees too!) colorful entrance to Rock County Community Garden Annette Smith and John Bauwens Smith/Bauwens border in the back yard ready for dinner at the Smith/Bauwens residence! colorful front stoop at the Smith/Bauwens residence antique tools at the Smith/Bauwens residence labyrinth garden at Hubler residence gazebo at Hubler residence (with violin music!) vegetable garden at Hubler residence vertical planter (it rolls!) at Hubler residence Dragon Wing begonias at Hubler residence colorful tomato supports at Hubler residence plastic bottle sculpture at Craig High School sculpture courtyard Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School

It was a beautiful day for our annual Home Garden Tour! With temperatures in the mid 80 degrees F, hundreds of tour participants enjoyed seeing the eight garden sites with a wide range of garden styles, features and plants; like the shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) seen above at the Maciolek garden. A sincere thank you to the six sets of homeowners that shared their gardens for this event as well as those involved with the Craig High School courtyard gardens and the Rock County Community Garden. We also had over 70 volunteers involved with facilitating this event and dozens of musicians that donated their skills and efforts to this vital RBG fundraiser. I always enjoy viewing the gardens and ran in to many volunteers and supporters of RBG. We'll see what the final attendance will be but I'm more pleased with all the positive comments that I heard about the event. Below are just some of the highlights of the successful 2013 RBG Home Garden Tour. These locations are simply in the order that I visited them. I'll try to blog from the Perennial Plant Association National Conference (Vancouver) over the coming week as time (and energy!) allows. Maciolek garden (Susan M. in the pink, second from right) Boston fern in desk container at Maciolek's bee balm (Monarda sp.) peaking at Maciolek residence back deck at Maciolek residence with live music tomatoes at Maciolek garden in grow bags Miller residence back yard border front entrance planters at Miller residence volunteer docents at Miller's (Mary D., Werner L. and Rose Marie L.) left to right, note neat prairie in the background accent annuals at Miller residence (front door) fancy garden shed at Miller garden prairie garden at Maher residence peak summer color in Maher prairie predator control on bluebird house Hal and Doris R. (RBG volunteers) at Maher residence Kelley & Jim Frey colorful, full sun entrance border at Frey residence live music at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence Rock County Community Farm Jim H. (far right) leading one of many tours vertical garden at Rock County Community Garden Laura B. and Kelli C. (both former RBG employees too!) colorful entrance to Rock County Community Garden Annette Smith and John Bauwens Smith/Bauwens border in the back yard ready for dinner at the Smith/Bauwens residence! colorful front stoop at the Smith/Bauwens residence antique tools at the Smith/Bauwens residence labyrinth garden at Hubler residence gazebo at Hubler residence (with violin music!) vegetable garden at Hubler residence vertical planter (it rolls!) at Hubler residence Dragon Wing begonias at Hubler residence colorful tomato supports at Hubler residence plastic bottle sculpture at Craig High School sculpture courtyard Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School

Didnt look that much into how the plants interact with eachother. I wanted a symetrical shape with plants everywhere, packed upon each other. Also I wanted plenty of fruits. I was hoping to add more greens and grasses but I was unable to find them in this system.

It was a beautiful day for our annual Home Garden Tour! With temperatures in the mid 80 degrees F, hundreds of tour participants enjoyed seeing the eight garden sites with a wide range of garden styles, features and plants; like the shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) seen above at the Maciolek garden. A sincere thank you to the six sets of homeowners that shared their gardens for this event as well as those involved with the Craig High School courtyard gardens and the Rock County Community Garden. We also had over 70 volunteers involved with facilitating this event and dozens of musicians that donated their skills and efforts to this vital RBG fundraiser. I always enjoy viewing the gardens and ran in to many volunteers and supporters of RBG. We'll see what the final attendance will be but I'm more pleased with all the positive comments that I heard about the event. Below are just some of the highlights of the successful 2013 RBG Home Garden Tour. These locations are simply in the order that I visited them. I'll try to blog from the Perennial Plant Association National Conference (Vancouver) over the coming week as time (and energy!) allows. Maciolek garden (Susan M. in the pink, second from right) Boston fern in desk container at Maciolek's bee balm (Monarda sp.) peaking at Maciolek residence back deck at Maciolek residence with live music tomatoes at Maciolek garden in grow bags Miller residence back yard border front entrance planters at Miller residence volunteer docents at Miller's (Mary D., Werner L. and Rose Marie L.) left to right, note neat prairie in the background accent annuals at Miller residence (front door) fancy garden shed at Miller garden prairie garden at Maher residence peak summer color in Maher prairie predator control on bluebird house Hal and Doris R. (RBG volunteers) at Maher residence Kelley & Jim Frey colorful, full sun entrance border at Frey residence live music at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence Rock County Community Farm Jim H. (far right) leading one of many tours vertical garden at Rock County Community Garden Laura B. and Kelli C. (both former RBG employees too!) colorful entrance to Rock County Community Garden Annette Smith and John Bauwens Smith/Bauwens border in the back yard ready for dinner at the Smith/Bauwens residence! colorful front stoop at the Smith/Bauwens residence antique tools at the Smith/Bauwens residence labyrinth garden at Hubler residence gazebo at Hubler residence (with violin music!) vegetable garden at Hubler residence vertical planter (it rolls!) at Hubler residence Dragon Wing begonias at Hubler residence colorful tomato supports at Hubler residence plastic bottle sculpture at Craig High School sculpture courtyard Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School

Vertical gardening is a popular gardening strategy for ardent green thumbs. It’s one way of allowing more plants to grow and nurture with the right amount

We were sad to hear that Rita had passed away yesterday after some health challenges that she has been fighting fiercely in recent months. I knew Rita originally as the quiet volunteer with a beautiful smile that would come to every work day and help at our plant sales. I think I met her over seven years ago. I never realized she had a PhD in accounting and was a professor as well! Her value to the garden was immeasurable not only as a volunteer but ultimately as our accounting person and bookkeeper. She sure had a way with numbers and her smile and positive attitude on life will be missed. She was a wonderful person with a huge fan club at Rotary Botanical Gardens and beyond. Our collective condolences go out to her family. Rita J. Czaja May 24, 1952 – August 19, 2014 Rita Czaja, age 62, of Janesville, passed away Aug. 19, 2014, at home. She was born May 24, 1952, in Chicago, IL, the daughter of John and the late Loretta Czaja. Rita graduated from West Leyden High School in Northlake, IL. She graduated magna cum laude from Bowling Green State University, OH, with a BS in accounting and information systems. Rita was a CPA, working at Deloitte & Touche and Montgomery Ward in Chicago. After obtaining a Ph.D. in accounting from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, Rita taught at Michigan State University, Lansing, MI; Northern Kentucky University, outside of Cincinnati, OH; and the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, WI. She was a long-time member of the American Society of Women Accountants and a past president of the Chicago chapter (1982-1984). After retiring, Rita volunteered at the Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville, WI, which blossomed into a job she loved. She enjoyed travel, photography, flowers, gardening, decorating her home, making jewelry, and baking bread. Rita cared deeply about her relationships as well as her work and other projects and worked ceaselessly to do her best to excel at them. Rita is survived by her father, John Czaja; twin sister, Sally (Bob) Schoenfeld of Whitehouse Station, NJ; a brother, Stephen (Edi) Czaja of Broadview, IL; and beloved friend, Marlene Denson of Janesville, WI. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Rotary Botanical Gardens would be appreciated. At her request, funeral arrangements will be private. Special thanks to family and friends for their prayers and compassion, and to Home Instead and Heartland Hospice for their care in Rita’s final weeks. We had a great day at the gardens. Most of the grounds staff later attended an off-site retreat in the afternoon but the gardens were quite busy with staff, volunteers and lots of visitors. I gave a tour to the staff from Beautiful Blooms Landscape & Design (Wauwatosa, WI) who visited the gardens for the first time. What a great group and it was nice to meet the owner, Loriena in person and "talk shop." I did some other odds and ends as well. Terry, John, Cheryl, Cindy and Pat all had a wide range of duties out in the gardens today with Terry staying to hold down the fort in the afternoon. Below are some recent shots of the gardens. 'Blazin' Rose' bloodleaf (Iresine hybrida) - annual 'Golden Dreams' coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) with silver spurflower (Plectranthus argentatus) - both annuals 'Thailand Giant' elephant ear (Colocasia gigantea) looking good - tropical some of our New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hybrida) that we're trialing cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) - annual the Jungle Garden today We had great volunteer help today. Above are Kathy (left) and Eva speeding by to go weed in multiple areas. Kay (below) was joined by Patrea and they also bounced between areas for weeding. Dr. Gredler was in for some mowing and Maury ran some errands for us as well. The third photo down shows (from left to right), my ugly mug, Myrt, Nancy and Mary. Gena was off camera but all three ladies weeded in the Japanese garden and Jungle Garden. Marv and Marianne worked their magic on the moss islands and portions of the fern & moss garden. They do a great job. Shawn W. was in to clean up the water features and Janice worked with our superb volunteers from the Chestnut House. We also saw Dick H., Dr. Yahr, Nancy N. and many others today. Further below are more photos from today. 'Purple Prince' zinnia (Zinnia elegans) - annual 'Prestige Scarlet' cockscomb (Celosia cristata) - annual 'Blazin' Lime' bloodleaf (Iresine hybrida) - annual a view from the North point garden this morning

A tinge of fall coloration can be seen on the Tiger Eyes sumac (Rhus typhina 'Bailtiger') above! This coloration can start early (and end up a brilliant orange/red) but despite the very hot days, the cooler nights harken to the incoming fall weather! Some rain sure would be nice and it looks like we have a chance over the coming three days or so. Bring it on. We've had some crippling water line problems recently which have created severe challenges for watering that we hope Mother Nature will soon alleviate. While we have some grounds staff away from work and our summer boys (Nolan and Trevor) are gone, the recently confirmed help of Larry H. and Bob K. will be invaluable for our staffing needs. We had a solid volunteer turnout as well today with most volunteers taking advantage of the "cooler" morning! 'Firecracker' variegated fuchsia (Fuchsia triphylla) - annual 'Ginger Love' perennial fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) 'Satin Nights' coneflower (Echinacea hybrida) - perennial 'Prairie Sun' gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) - annual 'Pink Pepper' ornamental onion (Allium hybrida) - perennial Our volunteers are as tough as ever and dealing with this recent heat is no small task! Above are Eva (driving) and Kathy on their way out to the formal gardens for some serious tidying. They were later joined by Mary D. and this trio was quite successful in that space. Kathy can also be seen in the second photo down. Jenny wasn't far away tidying in the hosta hollow garden which is her assigned garden space. Below (left to right) are Dick H., Alan and Larry H. The guys were shifting around plants in the yard today to make more room for tables and ultimately the tents we'll be putting up for the Fall Plant Sale (September 12-13, 9 am - 4 pm). All three guys shifted to other duties including sweeping, weeding and painting! See Larry H. in the third photo down. Dr. Gredler and Rollie (fourth photo down) did their mowing rounds. Ed was out touching up the edging on some beds and our industrious carpenters included Ron Y., Dave, Jim and Vern today. Maury ran out for gas and other errands and Gary worked on more labels and went out to water a lot of trees that could use a drink! The fifth photo down shows our summer intern Molly (affectionately known as "Jimmy") out in the Pea Patch Garden. She finishes up this week then heads back to St. Norbert College. Marsha helped with some clerical tasks and we saw many others today as well. The grounds staff had a busy day today with plenty of watering too. Cindy worked on watering two garden areas by hand, watered most of the containers and yard and had other gardening duties as well. Big John ran irrigation and did a nice job digging up and exposing our major water leak which should be repaired tomorrow. John also installed benches with Terry, pressure washed and had plenty of other duties as well. Terry was in for a half day and did lots of watering for us and worked with John on some projects. Larry H., after being a Grumpy for the morning, helped smooth out some paths that needed the attention. I was able to tour the gardens, spray herbicide and am in the midst of Fall Plant Sale preparations as well as 2016 Budget work as well! More photos below from the gardens this morning. 'Yucatan Princess' elephant ear (Alocasia sarawakensis) - tropical 'Flamingo Feather Pink' wheat celosia (Celosia spicata) - annual rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) - perennial 'Emperor I' Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) from underneath... 'Defiance' coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) - annual larkspur (Consolida ajacis) in the Thomas Jefferson Collection

I was off today but was thankfully able to "get my fix" at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, WI. All the images here are from their rooftop garden which was 25,000 square feet of dynamite. I knew it was there and remember hearing when it was first constructed. I saw it from above first (photo above) and then descended two stories, opened the access door to the garden and meandered. It's old news that patients recovering in rooms with a view such as this recover significantly faster than those recovering (same ailment) in rooms with views of parking lots, walls and "un-nature-like" settings. What a great view and I enjoyed being immersed in this flowing composition which was a whimsical combination of both natives and non-natives with a nice representation of perennial grasses. I chatted with the primary grounds horticulturist, Mike, and we "talked shop" and compared "war stories." I enjoyed the visit and will blog tomorrow regarding their other garden which was top notch and featured a walking labyrinth.

It was another lovely day with a combination of sun and clouds and a temperature around 80 degrees F. We had another great turnout of volunteers today and were able to accomplish many tasks including significant planting and a whole lot of weeding! Above is the 'Cheyenne Spirit' coneflower (Echinacea) which is a nice seed mix (also an All-America Selections winner) that includes purples, reds and yellows as well. This little patch of orange certainly caught my eye. With a cool morning, it was nice to have so many helping hands and we were able to spread out over a good portion of the gardens for many projects. The amount of weeds that came back to the compost pile was impressive and the grounds staff also had their share of projects including some watering as we're on the tail end of riding all the recent moisture in some areas. Below are some other photos from today. 'Archangel Dark Purple' summer snapdragon (Angelonia angustifolia) - annual 'Wallowa Mountains' sandwort (Arenaria sp.) - perennial  'Thailand Giant' elephant ear (Colocasia gigantea) - annual As mentioned above, we had a superb volunteer turnout including the arrival of a new volunteer, Karen (seen above). I gave Karen a tour and she opted to be an assigned gardener and will be taking care of the North point border which immediately benefitted from her weeding attention this morning. She is an accomplished gardener and fit in nicely. Our Grumpies kept busy with path tidying and some mulching. Below are Ron P. (left) and Larry H. sweeping up the koi pond patio. Bob C. and Gene were also out cleaning up the paths. Later, Larry H. shifted to some mulching in the larch area. Our carpenters (Dave, Vern, Jim, Ron Y.) worked on more Japanese fence repair although the second photo down shows Jim (left) and Ron Y. taking an early (and unauthorized!) break in the shade. The next photo down shows four of our Grumpettes (Suzie, Vera, Bonnie and Sue) weeding along our red themed wall border. Marilyn, Kathy (fourth photo down) and Winifred were also part of the crew. All the ladies shifted to other areas for planting (entrance garden) and more weeding (Jungle Garden). Shirley (fifth photo down) also focused her weeding efforts in the Jungle Garden. Vicki came in later to finish planting and shifted to weeding in the Pollinator's Paradise theme of the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden which was also targeted by Pat R. this morning. Roy and Mary were in for weeding in multiple locations and Urban and his son arrived this afternoon for some serious pruning and the removal of a dead tree. Dr. Gredler did his mowing and we also saw Rose N., Dr. Yahr, El, Kris, Megan and many others. The grounds crew was quite spread out today with much going on and many visitors to accommodate. Larry ran irrigation most of the day in areas that were starting to dry and moved on to mowing, weed whipping and watering the holding yard. Big John worked on setting up sprinklers, watering containers and many other tasks. Janice organized our morning volunteers, weeded, had a meeting and worked on other tasks. Jenny was in for a half day with a strong focus on weeding the fern & moss garden. I was able to place plants for installation and had many meetings. We're ready for a great Home Garden Tour this Saturday, July 12th (9 am - 3 pm, rain or shine). See our website for more details. Further below are more recent shots from the gardens. blood banana (Musa acuminata ssp. zebrina) - annual 'Diamond Frost' spurge (Euphorbia graminea) - annual woolly sage (Salvia argentea) - biennial Come see the beautiful Adirondack chairs at the gardens as part of the 2014 Garden Art Project!

Today was another snowy one and while my trip in to work wasn't too bad, the return trip should be interesting to say the least. I'm still in favor of more snow and any precipitation this month to help augment the deficiencies from 2012 is welcome. As I type this blog, I don't have any one else here to report on but I've been busy getting seeds ready for our growers and I'll be hauling most of those out tomorrow and on Thursday if the roads are passable. We still have a couple seeds trickling in from late orders or back orders but the bulk of our seed grown material for the Spring Plant Sale and the gardens is ready to be dispersed and delivered. Our Fern & Moss Garden is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Built just north of the Japanese garden this space (4,000 sq. ft?) has been fun to develop with a vast collection of ferns and a "moss island" surrounded by streams and a small pond. The original intent with the fern collection continues to be to acquire, grow, display and evaluate every fern that we can find that has a hardiness rating to zone 6. We are not zone 6 but we're finding quite a few ferns that have established and were not thought to be hardy. We are involved with the Hardy Fern Foundation (www.hardyferns.org) and are one of eleven satellite display gardens for that organization in the United States. In our fern garden, the six garden beds in this space have ferns loosely grouped by "region of origin" including Asiatic, North American and European. This garden, positioned under the shade of many large cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) was developed to mimic the Japanese garden style and includes lanterns, bridges and in the photo above and below, you can see the Ma Chii' (spelling?) structure which is an authentic Japanese resting structure for contemplation. This garden has had some trials and tribulations in the past including flooding in 2008 which covered over 2/3 of the garden with standing water (13 weeks) when our surrounding ponds (and the adjacent streams and Rock River) peaked at 5' over normal levels. A good portion of the Japanese garden was also flooded and we've been replacing plants for a couple years now in all if these gardens. Many ferns were replaced and while we've dabbled with slight improvements to our moss island, we took a serious step this past spring. We continue to augment the collection, tweak the misting system, amend soils as needed and hope to re-establish one of the largest fern collections in the Midwest. The top photo shows the original moss island in late winter. Why grow moss? Why not? Wisconsin has 400 native species of moss and while I can't identify very many, our hope was to include and promote moss as a groundcover option in the shade. Originally quite flat, this mossy expanse was established by Jenny E. and Janice. Janice has been the moss caretaker since the beginning and has been in charge of adding moss, additional watering, debris collection, etc. In recent years, Marv B. had helped by adding mosses and re-configuring that garden with additional rocks, clubmosses, etc. The flooding mentioned above created some problems including an influx of weeds and while the moss island was nice, we knew it could be improved after visiting the garden of Dale S. in Waukesha, WI on two occasions (2005 and 2011). We decided to enlist the help of Dale S. ("Mr. Moss") this spring to create a new moss garden (same location) with more topography and a wider selection of mosses. I essentially asked Dale to approach our moss island like he has his moss plantings at home. The end result can be seen below. Dale S., a retired economics instructor from MATC (Milwaukee), contacted me years ago regarding moss. He mentioned his garden and sent some pictures along. I was mesmerized by the healthy moss beds and his entire 1 acre garden is unbelievable. His knowledge (and appreciation) of mosses is quite extraordinary and after our first trip to his garden, I realized that Dale's passion for mosses could be replicated at RBG. Mosses have a 400 million year history and are quite adaptable in a wide range of conditions. Mosses have no true roots or flowers. They reproduce by spores and the reason you see mosses growing on rocks, tree trunks, bricks, etc. is that they attach with rhizoids (anchoring structures) and take in water and nutrients on an intercellular level (rainwater). Mosses are also evergreen and will photosynthesize year-round. In fact, they are green right now under the snow. There is a great, award-winning book on mosses by George Schenk that is worthy of consideration (Moss Gardening: Including Lichens, Liverworts, and Other Miniatures). The biology of mosses is quite interesting and there are various thoughts on how to establish mosses. Of course, mosses in warmer, more humid climates can be problematic (i.e. the Pacific Northwest) and may not be promoted as a garden asset. However, in the Midwest, mosses can add a wonderful touch in a woodland or shade garden as a durable groundcover. The quick summary of the process that Dale employed includes site preparation with soil mounds, rock placement and ultimately the re-positioning of moss transplants. Dale had help from Marv, Terry, Big John and Janice although most of the moss acquisition and placement was done by Dale. The "quiltwork" approach of positioning patches in close proximity works well if mosses are immediately and consistently watered. These collected moss patches were skimmed below the rhizoids and tamped securely in place. Keep in mind that it is illegal to collect mosses from State or Federal lands and when collecting, only take a portion of a moss patch from the wild so it can regenerate the open space. We are also encouraging mosses on all the rocks in that garden. We did secure some light netting over newly planted moss sections to deter birds and squirrels from collecting prime nesting material. The process can be seen below and the results have been spectacular. We'll continue to add mosses as needed but this new, mounded look with additional rocks and a wider variety of mosses has become immediately popular and a great garden asset for RBG. Included further below are some inspirational shots of Dale's moss garden. Dale's moss island preparation (Marv & Terry in background) moss transplants ready to go Mr. Moss, poised and ready the "patchwork" approach Janice and Mr. Moss consulting moss island (east bed) moss island (west bed) moss clumps in fall: filling in nicely one of many moss troughs at Dale's garden Dale's garden woodland path in Dale's garden mossy patch at Dale's garden moss at Dale's garden moss at Dale's garden consider mosses!

Today was another sunny and cool day with lots of action at the Horticulture Center and out in the gardens. Pat M. went out for more serious pruning which involved some significant "ladder work". Kathy P. was out cutting back ornamental grasses and doing some general tidying. Vern came in for some carpentry work which included progress on his "giant rulers" (for the Jungle Garden). These will allow guests to track the increasing height of our tropicals in that space. Gena and Myrt continued on more painting and Dr. Gredler came in to help out as well. Cindy, Kay and Bev D. worked on processing labels for the Spring Plant Sale (only 7 weeks away!) and Chuck S. made some recycling runs. Darcie and Karen worked on some Horticulture Therapy projects that will be incorporated in to our August 11th program (Incorporating Gardening Into a Therapy Program) and Kris K. was over and getting prepared for our big Spring Symposium this Saturday featuring Peter Hatch (Head of Gardens and Grounds from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, retired), Kyle Cherek (Host of Wisconsin Foodie) and yours truly. Jumbo Jim worked on garden clean-up with some RECAPPERS this afternoon as well. We also saw Carole, Dr. Yahr and many others today. Due to afternoon meetings, I likely missed some volunteers later in the day but we had a great turnout and everyone has caught "spring fever". I love sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima). Let's start with that. This annual blooms like crazy all the way through the fall and will take some light frost. Above is the variety 'Lavender Stream' which looks like this from mid June until early October for us. These are very easy to grow from seed although there are now some vegetative varieties (purchased as plants). These plants are sweetly scented, particularly at dusk and rarely get over 10" tall. Once established, sweet alyssum is drought tolerant and is a great candidate for the edge of a full sun border, container or hanging basket. Aside from the traditional white, alyssum can be found in mixed colors to include pink, rose, lavender, purple and apricot. We used lots of the white varieties in our Smelly Garden (back again this year!) themes and as part of our "Moonlit Garden" themes too. There is even a variegated leaf form (see 'Frosty Knight' below...). My mom always had sweet alyssum along the sunny and dry side of the house and late in fall, would pull it up, shake out the seeds in that border and it has continued to return and reseed for 25 years with that same "pull and shake" method! Tough as nails and the benefit of long blooms and scent make this an annual of choice! 'Lavender Stream' 'Lavender Stream' 'Silver Stream' 'Silver Stream' 'Silver Stream' 'Frosty Knight' 'Frosty Knight' patch at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (Madison, WI) sweet alyssum trials at the Ball Seed Trial Gardens (West Chicago, IL) 'BiColor Pink Stream' 'Yolo French Vanilla' neat use around stepping stones (Wood Residence, Janesville, WI) 'Snow Princess' 'Snow Princess' 'Snow Princess' 'Snow Princess' 'Snow Princess' 'Snow Princess' repetition at Olbrich Botanical Gardens (Madison, WI) sweet alyssum mix

Today was another snowy one and while my trip in to work wasn't too bad, the return trip should be interesting to say the least. I'm...

I've been doing some recent research on pollination which is quite fascinating. With the second year of our "Pollinator's Paradise" theme occurring in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden, I'm examining more plant options for that garden and am amazed by the value of pollination and the variability of pollinators (over 200,000 species of pollinators with 1,000 of those species being birds, bats and small mammals). I've also been asked to give some presentations on creating a pollinator-friendly garden and have enjoyed looking further in to this topic. Did you know that 75% of all flowering plant species need help from pollinators to reproduce and that 1/3 of all foods and beverages worldwide produced are reliant on pollinators? Look in to the research further in order to create a friendly garden for a wide range of pollinators that also avoids the use of chemicals and pesticides. A great website to start with is www.pollinator.org. Our "Pollinator's Paradise" was very effective last year and there were no shortage of butterflies and hummingbirds out in that space. The three swallowtail photos taken (2013) below were from our volunteer, Marsha M. who captured a lot of this amazing activity. I've recently blogged about the annual Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) as a butterfly magnet but the annual South American verbena (Verbena bonariensis) was also one of our most popular butterfly magnets in that space. This taller verbena can be seen above and throughout this blog. I've also observed plenty of monarchs on this species (see fourth photo down...). It was another frigid day and my vehicle thermometer read -12 degrees F as I left for work this morning. It was a sunny day but brutal enough to force many school closings, business closings, event postponements and the closure of RBG today. I came in to the Horticulture Center to continue the juggling act of seed ordering, plant records updating, event preparations (WPT Garden Expo coming up soon!, see www.wigardenexpo.com/ for details), etc. Both Pat and Dr. Gredler came in to paint obelisks. The obelisks are trickling in from Holiday Lights Show use and once the lights are removed, they get their new 2014 color. Janice and Pat R. came in to work on some office projects in the afternoon. We also saw Bill O., Ruth and Big John. This South American verbena (Verbena bonariensis) is hardy between zones 7 and 11 but certainly an annual for us. This taller verbena, native to tropical South America, is quite statuesque with a height between 3' and 5' depending on location and soils. The plant form is open enough to be wind tolerant and the stems are quite strong (we rarely have to stake this species). Adaptable to a wide range of soils, this species (like all verbenas) prefers full sun and combines well with plants where the flowers can hover and be enjoyed by humans and pollinators alike. Other common names for this species include purpletop vervain, clustertop verbena and upright verbena. This annual blooms from June until frost and continues branching on square stems and producing more flowers on long stalks branching at a 45 degree angle from the older stem. I've grown this species for 20 years and always enjoyed the show with butterfly visitation a solid guarantee. However, this species also seeds readily and you will see babies each year. Naturalized in the Southern United States, this species is on the invasive list in the State of Washington. It has also been quite aggressive in other countries and there is concern about its ability to rampantly reproduce. You should know that it will be back and adjust accordingly. We occasionally leave seedlings here and there or are vigilant about "culling the herd" in spring and summer as seeds continue to germinate over a long period. Almost every seed catalog carries this species which can be started early, sown the previous fall season or sown in spring once the soil warms above 70 degrees F (early June in our area). See further below for some uses of the South American verbena which will be making a return engagement to our Pollinator's Paradise in 2014! see the floating clusters both above and below Verbena bonariensis with 'Flamingo Feather Pink' celosia (Celosia spicata) in the foreground and 'King Tut' papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) in the back Verbena bonariensis in the North point garden in 2012. Note the impact of a mass planting (we're still pulling out seedlings though!) same as above "Pollinator's Paradise" in the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden (RBG) in 2013. Note the way the Verbena bonariensis floats above neighbors in this setting that provides plenty of variety for our pollinators (both above and below)

It was a beautiful day for our annual Home Garden Tour! With temperatures in the mid 80 degrees F, hundreds of tour participants enjoyed seeing the eight garden sites with a wide range of garden styles, features and plants; like the shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) seen above at the Maciolek garden. A sincere thank you to the six sets of homeowners that shared their gardens for this event as well as those involved with the Craig High School courtyard gardens and the Rock County Community Garden. We also had over 70 volunteers involved with facilitating this event and dozens of musicians that donated their skills and efforts to this vital RBG fundraiser. I always enjoy viewing the gardens and ran in to many volunteers and supporters of RBG. We'll see what the final attendance will be but I'm more pleased with all the positive comments that I heard about the event. Below are just some of the highlights of the successful 2013 RBG Home Garden Tour. These locations are simply in the order that I visited them. I'll try to blog from the Perennial Plant Association National Conference (Vancouver) over the coming week as time (and energy!) allows. Maciolek garden (Susan M. in the pink, second from right) Boston fern in desk container at Maciolek's bee balm (Monarda sp.) peaking at Maciolek residence back deck at Maciolek residence with live music tomatoes at Maciolek garden in grow bags Miller residence back yard border front entrance planters at Miller residence volunteer docents at Miller's (Mary D., Werner L. and Rose Marie L.) left to right, note neat prairie in the background accent annuals at Miller residence (front door) fancy garden shed at Miller garden prairie garden at Maher residence peak summer color in Maher prairie predator control on bluebird house Hal and Doris R. (RBG volunteers) at Maher residence Kelley & Jim Frey colorful, full sun entrance border at Frey residence live music at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence Rock County Community Farm Jim H. (far right) leading one of many tours vertical garden at Rock County Community Garden Laura B. and Kelli C. (both former RBG employees too!) colorful entrance to Rock County Community Garden Annette Smith and John Bauwens Smith/Bauwens border in the back yard ready for dinner at the Smith/Bauwens residence! colorful front stoop at the Smith/Bauwens residence antique tools at the Smith/Bauwens residence labyrinth garden at Hubler residence gazebo at Hubler residence (with violin music!) vegetable garden at Hubler residence vertical planter (it rolls!) at Hubler residence Dragon Wing begonias at Hubler residence colorful tomato supports at Hubler residence plastic bottle sculpture at Craig High School sculpture courtyard Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School

Blog topics (and the enclosed photos) like this keep me from remembering that it was -6 degrees F this morning with more blowing snow. I don't mind the winter but am not a fan of winter driving or shoveling. It looks like we'll continue to have some "dustings" through Wednesday and we'll tidy up the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) paths on Thursday. I was warm and cozy inside though and continue to prepare for 2014. I've sifted through five catalogs in between other tasks and am starting to finalize collection ideas for next year. Aside from our usual "eye candy annuals", I'll be adding plenty of perennials including ornamental perennial grasses like the 'Blonde Ambition' blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) seen above with 'Vintage Wine' purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and 'Little Spire' Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia). I've included some of my favorites in this blog but keep in mind that there are countless other species and varieties. Ornamental grasses shouldn't just be selected for winter interest as many also offer superior foliage color during the growing season, showy inflorescences (flower/seed head) and potentially fall color. Know your grass features (and growing preferences) before planting but remember that a grass should offer multiple seasons of interest as specimens, focal points and role-players in other compositions. Grass form (upright, arching, rounded, etc.) should be a consideration as well. Grass needs will also include division at some point which can be quite involved for larger specimens. Larry had some brief jobs to do out in the gardens (HLS adjustments) but came back to warm up quickly. Dr. Gredler came in for more painting and Bill O. stopped by to help out here and there as well. Janice was in to call and confirm our trailwalking volunteers for the HLS and she also worked on some projects for next year. We had our monthly Garden Development & Maintenance Committee Meeting this morning and had some closure for 2013 while discussing thoughts for an exciting 2014 (our 25th Anniversary!). Committee members in attendance included Maury, Dr. Gredler, Dick P., Hal R., Iza, Christine R. and Larry H. It was a cold, quiet and productive day. Below are more grasses of potential interest... 'Mega Blue' big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) - pinkish/orange fall color too! 'Red October' big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) - in September 'Red Baron' Japanese blood grass (Imperata cylindrica) - spreads! (at Olbrich Botanical Garden - Madison, WI) Korean feather reed grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha) in summer Korean feather reed grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha) in late fall 'All Gold' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) 'All Gold' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) 'River Mist' variegated Northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) 'Bowles' Golden' sedge (Carex elata) - not a "true grass" but a relative good for damp, part shade 'Cheyenne Sky' switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) - late summer maroon highlights Ruby Ribbons switchgrass (Panicum virgatum 'RR1') - late summer maroon highlights 'Gold Bar' dwarf porcupine grass (Miscanthus sinensis) 'Purpurascens' flame grass (Miscanthus sinensis) - fall color 'The Blues' little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) winter coloration of above ('The Blues') Consider perennial grasses for the garden!

Small Local garden made to sell to local resturants in bricktown okc and to the farmers markets.

Beautiful garden.

Today was a nice sunny one with temperatures right around 32 degrees F. Looks like they received quite a blanket of snow out East! I heard it will be 36" deep in Boston. While I'm not a big fan of snow removal, I sure wouldn't mind another layer out in the gardens. Of course, that means the discouraging deer tracks will be more conspicuous! I spent the day ordering plants and seeds although we had some nice volunteer help as well. Pat continued to process lights inside and his system is working great for minimizing storage space. Larry H. was out in the formal gardens collecting more lights off of the hedges. Urban came in for some pruning and Bill O. was in later to help with some indoor projects. This blog has an assemblage of vertical wall plantings that I've seen over the years. There are much larger systems on the sides of buildings and that technology continues to improve. However, those systems are usually "soil-less" with plants rooting in to an engineered felt system with plants being nourished by nutrient solutions being flushed down through the plantings. I don't pretend to understand all the technology behind this but check out Patrick Blanc and his work in this regard primarily in Europe. He has a book as well and I'm amazed at the scale and scope of some of these urban systems. The walls seen in this blog, like the one above seen at the Ball Seed Trial Gardens (West Chicago), require soil and plants root directly in to these frameworks or fabric pouches. Above is a Woolly Pocket system although most of the other set-ups were constructed to not only handle well-drained soil (essential) and plants but the combined weight of those elements. The proper construction, anchoring and maintenance of these structures is paramount. See some examples further below. Ball Seed Trial Gardens (2012) Ball Seed Trial Gardens (2012) Ball Seed Trial Gardens (2013) Ball Seed Trial Gardens (2014) Longwood Gardens (by conservatories) - those are bathroom doors! same as above The remaining photos are all from the Buehler Enabling Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Today was another beautiful day although it was a cool morning at 54 degrees F with the high temperature right around 70 degrees F. It sure feels like early October out in the gardens. However, the displays (like that above in the North point garden) still look vivid (see below too). We don't have to water quite as often although our hope is to extend the color as late as possible in to the season. It was perfect working weather and we had a nice turnout of volunteers that accomplished a wide range of tasks along with our talented grounds crew. All-America Selections display (above) the warm terrace garden color theme still looks great (above) the sunken garden continues to look excellent Our volunteers had a productive day. Above are Jim (left) and Dave constructing a small boat...not really. That will be a raised, accessible planter that rolls and can be moved like a wheelbarrow. Vern and Ron Y. (sixth photo down) were also in the vicinity working on carpentry projects. Pat M. was in for more prep work for the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) which continues to get closer on the calendar. Alan (directly below) did a nice job edging and tidying the beds at the Horticulture Center. Dr. Gredler was out mowing today and Maury ran multiple errands for us. The second photo down shows Shirley (left) and Betty out in the gardens where they spent time tidying their respective garden beds (which both still look spectacular). The third photo down shows Ron R. (driving) and Ron P. heading back from path tidying. The guys, along with Lloyd in the fourth photo down, were not only collecting debris but replacing gravel as needed, weeding and in essence, focusing on path quality. The fifth photo down shows Marsha M. taking photos in the Smelly Garden theme of the Nancy Yahr Memorial Children's Garden. She is an excellent photographer and allowed me to cut in front of her for the neat monarch shot further below! Kathy was in for some tidying in multiple areas and we also saw Art and many others. The grounds crew kept active today. "Newbie" Larry H. (above) spent his day mulching in the Scottish garden which really needed the attention! He did a nice job. Cindy tidied up multiple areas, weeded, watered and had some duties in the yard as well. Janice did some hand watering, tidying and did the cutting display as well. Big John and Terry bonded today as they both set up sprinklers, watered containers, touched up the shearing in the formal gardens and dug up/potted daylilies (Hemerocallis). I was able to tour the gardens but have some serious desk work to catch up on. This entire week looks nice and cool. 'Cherry Brandy' gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) with 'China Town' plume celosia (Celosia plumosa) - annuals 'Pegasus' begonia (Begonia) - annual fruiting structure of Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) - perennial 'Cherokee Sunset' gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) - annual bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) - perennial monarchs on blazing star (Liatris sp.) - perennial 'Jolt Pink' sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) - annual variegated cattail (Typha latifolia 'Variegata') - perennial

Today was another snowy one and while my trip in to work wasn't too bad, the return trip should be interesting to say the least. I'm still in favor of more snow and any precipitation this month to help augment the deficiencies from 2012 is welcome. As I type this blog, I don't have any one else here to report on but I've been busy getting seeds ready for our growers and I'll be hauling most of those out tomorrow and on Thursday if the roads are passable. We still have a couple seeds trickling in from late orders or back orders but the bulk of our seed grown material for the Spring Plant Sale and the gardens is ready to be dispersed and delivered. Our Fern & Moss Garden is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Built just north of the Japanese garden this space (4,000 sq. ft?) has been fun to develop with a vast collection of ferns and a "moss island" surrounded by streams and a small pond. The original intent with the fern collection continues to be to acquire, grow, display and evaluate every fern that we can find that has a hardiness rating to zone 6. We are not zone 6 but we're finding quite a few ferns that have established and were not thought to be hardy. We are involved with the Hardy Fern Foundation (www.hardyferns.org) and are one of eleven satellite display gardens for that organization in the United States. In our fern garden, the six garden beds in this space have ferns loosely grouped by "region of origin" including Asiatic, North American and European. This garden, positioned under the shade of many large cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) was developed to mimic the Japanese garden style and includes lanterns, bridges and in the photo above and below, you can see the Ma Chii' (spelling?) structure which is an authentic Japanese resting structure for contemplation. This garden has had some trials and tribulations in the past including flooding in 2008 which covered over 2/3 of the garden with standing water (13 weeks) when our surrounding ponds (and the adjacent streams and Rock River) peaked at 5' over normal levels. A good portion of the Japanese garden was also flooded and we've been replacing plants for a couple years now in all if these gardens. Many ferns were replaced and while we've dabbled with slight improvements to our moss island, we took a serious step this past spring. We continue to augment the collection, tweak the misting system, amend soils as needed and hope to re-establish one of the largest fern collections in the Midwest. The top photo shows the original moss island in late winter. Why grow moss? Why not? Wisconsin has 400 native species of moss and while I can't identify very many, our hope was to include and promote moss as a groundcover option in the shade. Originally quite flat, this mossy expanse was established by Jenny E. and Janice. Janice has been the moss caretaker since the beginning and has been in charge of adding moss, additional watering, debris collection, etc. In recent years, Marv B. had helped by adding mosses and re-configuring that garden with additional rocks, clubmosses, etc. The flooding mentioned above created some problems including an influx of weeds and while the moss island was nice, we knew it could be improved after visiting the garden of Dale S. in Waukesha, WI on two occasions (2005 and 2011). We decided to enlist the help of Dale S. ("Mr. Moss") this spring to create a new moss garden (same location) with more topography and a wider selection of mosses. I essentially asked Dale to approach our moss island like he has his moss plantings at home. The end result can be seen below. Dale S., a retired economics instructor from MATC (Milwaukee), contacted me years ago regarding moss. He mentioned his garden and sent some pictures along. I was mesmerized by the healthy moss beds and his entire 1 acre garden is unbelievable. His knowledge (and appreciation) of mosses is quite extraordinary and after our first trip to his garden, I realized that Dale's passion for mosses could be replicated at RBG. Mosses have a 400 million year history and are quite adaptable in a wide range of conditions. Mosses have no true roots or flowers. They reproduce by spores and the reason you see mosses growing on rocks, tree trunks, bricks, etc. is that they attach with rhizoids (anchoring structures) and take in water and nutrients on an intercellular level (rainwater). Mosses are also evergreen and will photosynthesize year-round. In fact, they are green right now under the snow. There is a great, award-winning book on mosses by George Schenk that is worthy of consideration (Moss Gardening: Including Lichens, Liverworts, and Other Miniatures). The biology of mosses is quite interesting and there are various thoughts on how to establish mosses. Of course, mosses in warmer, more humid climates can be problematic (i.e. the Pacific Northwest) and may not be promoted as a garden asset. However, in the Midwest, mosses can add a wonderful touch in a woodland or shade garden as a durable groundcover. The quick summary of the process that Dale employed includes site preparation with soil mounds, rock placement and ultimately the re-positioning of moss transplants. Dale had help from Marv, Terry, Big John and Janice although most of the moss acquisition and placement was done by Dale. The "quiltwork" approach of positioning patches in close proximity works well if mosses are immediately and consistently watered. These collected moss patches were skimmed below the rhizoids and tamped securely in place. Keep in mind that it is illegal to collect mosses from State or Federal lands and when collecting, only take a portion of a moss patch from the wild so it can regenerate the open space. We are also encouraging mosses on all the rocks in that garden. We did secure some light netting over newly planted moss sections to deter birds and squirrels from collecting prime nesting material. The process can be seen below and the results have been spectacular. We'll continue to add mosses as needed but this new, mounded look with additional rocks and a wider variety of mosses has become immediately popular and a great garden asset for RBG. Included further below are some inspirational shots of Dale's moss garden. Dale's moss island preparation (Marv & Terry in background) moss transplants ready to go Mr. Moss, poised and ready the "patchwork" approach Janice and Mr. Moss consulting moss island (east bed) moss island (west bed) moss clumps in fall: filling in nicely one of many moss troughs at Dale's garden Dale's garden woodland path in Dale's garden mossy patch at Dale's garden moss at Dale's garden moss at Dale's garden consider mosses!

Today was quite "warm" (relatively speaking of course!). It was in upper 20 degrees F range although the wind chill was significant too. I had a presentation up in Dane County on Shade Plants that went well with less than 50% of the crowd falling asleep with my monotone presentation. Actually, it was nice to see Lisa J. (UWEX Horticulture Educator for Dane Co.) up there as well as Paul Ganshert, Rich Miller and other green industry professionals. I was lucky in that I missed the snow with my travels to and fro although we did get some blowing snow by the lunch hour. It was a productive morning for the Grumpies with Pat and Urban out in the gardens bringing in lights and lots of indoor activity at the Horticulture Center. Pat also processed lights for storage. Jim, Vern and Ron Y. continued work on their carpentry project while Dr. Gredler and Gary continued with their respective painting projects. Gene helped here and there and we later saw Bill O. who came in to help Larry. Mark S. stopped by as well. Maury was around and certainly others I missed seeing due to my morning gig. Larry continued cleaning and sharpening tools which is a very important task over these winter months and our larger equipment is next on the tune up list. It's important to mention and admit that I'm not using the word obelisk correctly. The dictionary says that an obelisk is "a stone pillar, typically having a square cross section and pyramidal top. Frequently used as a monument." Well, my modified and refined definition of a garden obelisk is "a wooden, frequently painted, pyramidal structure with a square cross section that offers a strong vertical element in the garden and frequently a support for vines as well". There are many styles of obelisks and we have been using them for many years out in the gardens. Our "carpentry-inclined" Grumpies make them annually and out in the gardens we have five different styles that are represented by heights of 4', 6', 7', 9', 12' and a 20' monster. We sell a nice 6' cedar obelisk with a copper top in our Cottage Gallery Gifts for $125 plus tax and they are very popular. We currently don't offer or sell plans for these although we're asked often about that possibility. I've included just some of many obelisk photos I've taken over the years and keep in mind that the repainting occurs every winter as we plan for upcoming use in specific situations and color themes. See further down for more obelisk information. We've only had obelisks at RBG for the past 10 years or so. It started with three six foot tall obelisks that we used to support vines. I saw these in a catalog, cut out the photo and had our Grumpies build them just for fun. They looked neat and certainly offered a strong vertical element in the garden. We also had lots of positive feedback from visitors regarding these structures. The next year we started painting those original obelisks and a whole new world of opportunity opened up for us! We currently have about 50 obelisks (see some above) that we secure out in the gardens each year. As mentioned above, the paint colors selected for these are not random. We coordinate obelisk color with collections and always rely on them as a strong vertical element and focal point out in the garden. While we plant vines on many of these, some we don't at all. For instance, in the top photo (2013), those obelisks (you can see six of eight in the formal annual sections) did not have vines and were selected for that strong blue impact. We usually secure every obelisk with two stakes on opposite corners and use cable ties or screws on occasion to make sure that these don't get floppy (particularly once vines get established). Proper anchoring is a must. If we have time, we'll paint the anchoring stakes the same color as the obelisk so they aren't too conspicuous. All of these are made of cedar and are painted or re-sealed each year. Some have copper tops (from Menard's), finial tops or special pyramid tops made by the Grumpies for clean and sharp (literally and figuratively) contribution. Above is the 20' obelisk in the "Jungle Garden" in 2013. This actually had an opening for kids (or stooping adults) to pass under the obelisk (see below although the openings are hard to see). The second photo down shows a view from inside the structure looking upwards. Built in the fall of 2012, this giant obelisk has been used in two of our Holiday Lights Show displays (see fourth, fifth and sixth photo down). While the scale of this giant obelisk may not be appropriate for the home garden, it works in the areas that we've positioned it. There are unsubstantiated rumors of a second one being constructed this winter.... From left to right are Jim, Vern and Dave although Bob A. and Ron Y. are also involved with the obelisk creation and in this case, some repairs. above is Rose doing a color conversion These "garden pyramids" fall in to our originally errant (but creatively modified) definition of an obelisk in terms of their contribution out in the garden. Note the color transformations over the years (seen below) and the fact that these structures are built to rest comfortably level on our 30 degree entrance garden slope. We will be converting these to pink for 2014 if that gives you any hint on a color theme? :) 2013 Entrance Garden 2012 Entrance Garden 2011 Entrance Garden

Today was FRIGID with no activity out in the gardens (except for hungry deer). While the weather outside was frightful, the inside was so delightful (and productive). Pat M. continued to process lights while Dr. Gredler painted more trash bins with a fresh coat of grey/blue paint. Ron Y. and Dave were putting primer on their carpentry projects which will become the "soon to be announced" garden art projects for this year. More to follow on that annual event very shortly. Vern, Jim, Bob K. and Dick H. were all working on carpentry projects as well. Larry O. was here briefly and we saw a couple others as well. Any time I do a presentation regarding the shade garden, I include the yellow fumitory (Corydalis lutea). This perennial has thrived for us and has been a colorful component in many of our shade and part shade gardens. All of these images (most from RBG) will do credit to the beautiful flowers and clean foliage of this European native. The blue-green foliage (three-lobed leaflets) is reminiscent of bleeding heart (Dicentra sp.) or even columbine (Aquilegia sp.). Of all of our perennials (literally, all) in the garden, this one has the longest bloom period which will start in May and end in early October. They are "self-cleaning" so simply continue to shed old blooms and produce new ones. These plants prefer rich, moist soils and will never thrive in dry soils. Full shade to part shade are preferred but with ample moisture, I've seen them do well in more sunlight. Soil drainage is important as yellow fumitory will resent wet winter conditions and may disappear. This species is hardy to only zone 5 so keep that in mind. When happy though, this plant will reseed prolifically although seedlings are easy to remove or relocate. The image below shows some "advantageous reseeding" throughout open gaps in our shade garden. There were only three plants installed here five years before the photo so you can see how it spreads out. Beautiful! At 15" tall, this tough perennial should be included in your shade garden palette and as long as you keep it happy, it will do the same for you!

It was a beautiful day for our annual Home Garden Tour! With temperatures in the mid 80 degrees F, hundreds of tour participants enjoyed seeing the eight garden sites with a wide range of garden styles, features and plants; like the shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) seen above at the Maciolek garden. A sincere thank you to the six sets of homeowners that shared their gardens for this event as well as those involved with the Craig High School courtyard gardens and the Rock County Community Garden. We also had over 70 volunteers involved with facilitating this event and dozens of musicians that donated their skills and efforts to this vital RBG fundraiser. I always enjoy viewing the gardens and ran in to many volunteers and supporters of RBG. We'll see what the final attendance will be but I'm more pleased with all the positive comments that I heard about the event. Below are just some of the highlights of the successful 2013 RBG Home Garden Tour. These locations are simply in the order that I visited them. I'll try to blog from the Perennial Plant Association National Conference (Vancouver) over the coming week as time (and energy!) allows. Maciolek garden (Susan M. in the pink, second from right) Boston fern in desk container at Maciolek's bee balm (Monarda sp.) peaking at Maciolek residence back deck at Maciolek residence with live music tomatoes at Maciolek garden in grow bags Miller residence back yard border front entrance planters at Miller residence volunteer docents at Miller's (Mary D., Werner L. and Rose Marie L.) left to right, note neat prairie in the background accent annuals at Miller residence (front door) fancy garden shed at Miller garden prairie garden at Maher residence peak summer color in Maher prairie predator control on bluebird house Hal and Doris R. (RBG volunteers) at Maher residence Kelley & Jim Frey colorful, full sun entrance border at Frey residence live music at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence shady beds at Frey residence Rock County Community Farm Jim H. (far right) leading one of many tours vertical garden at Rock County Community Garden Laura B. and Kelli C. (both former RBG employees too!) colorful entrance to Rock County Community Garden Annette Smith and John Bauwens Smith/Bauwens border in the back yard ready for dinner at the Smith/Bauwens residence! colorful front stoop at the Smith/Bauwens residence antique tools at the Smith/Bauwens residence labyrinth garden at Hubler residence gazebo at Hubler residence (with violin music!) vegetable garden at Hubler residence vertical planter (it rolls!) at Hubler residence Dragon Wing begonias at Hubler residence colorful tomato supports at Hubler residence plastic bottle sculpture at Craig High School sculpture courtyard Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School Japanese garden courtyard at Craig High School

These images were all taken last night at the last of our Holiday Lights Show (HLS) test nights. The show is running well and we've tweaked as needed. Another light dusting of snow would be nice but we've all agreed that this is our best HLS yet! The show opens for the public a week from today on December 12th (4:30 pm - 8 pm, last ticket sold at 7:30 pm) and runs for eleven nights. Check out www.rotarybotanicalgardens.org for more dates and information on this popular family event. Today was quiet with me perusing 2015 seed catalogs and organizing my 2014 photos. Maury came in after running some errands and Janice was working on some projects as well. Alan M. stopped by to continue tool cleaning and we saw some others as well.

I would rank today as one of the top ten craziest days (in a good way) that we've ever had at the gardens. I counted over 50 volunteers at one point today and the photo below is a telling indication of our wonderful volunteer turnout. Of course the gardens are still beautiful as indicated in the shot above which features the Lavender Twist weeping redbud (Cercis canadensis 'Covey') at peak. Further below are more beautiful photos from today as I was able to get out in the gardens for an hour or so to check on our gardening volunteers. We had an excellent split of garden volunteers and volunteers helping with the plant sale. This blog would get quite long recognizing all the specific contributions of our volunteers today which doesn't mean they weren't monumental. For the sake of time (already past my bedtime), our grounds staff included Larry, Janice, Big John and Cheryl who all helped with plant sale preparations and other tasks. Our volunteers included Barb, Doris, Joy, Tina, Gena, Mary, Myrt, Mary, Roy, Mary, Bev D., Bob D., two RECAP ladies, Jumbo Jim, three RECAP gentlemen, Dr. Gredler, Dr. Yahr, Dick P., Bob K., Dave T., Vern, Ron Y., Jim D., Dick H., Larry H., Lloyd, Ron R., Ron B., Ron P., Gary B., Alan, Nancy, Pat M., Mary D., Pat M., Mary R., Karen, Eva, Peg, Bonnie, Shirley, Chuck S. and so many more. That is about the extent of my memory nowadays but what a crew! We also saw Kris K., Polly, Sue M. and Chris D. for our staff meeting. See captions below for more excitement from today. Tomorrow begins the RBG Members Only Plant Sale (9 am - 4 pm). Rollie (left) and Dr. Gredler chatting about turf I presume Mary R. (left) and Bonnie weeding Dick P. working on memorial brick installation Shirley H. weeding in the Scottish garden Ron R. and Ron P. Ron B. (left) and Gary B. Bob K., Jim D. and Dave T. (left to right working on the garden art) Pat C. with her labels! Larry H. (left) and Lloyd mulching Judd viburnum (Viburnum x juddii) barrenwort (Epimedium grandiflorum 'Red Queen') the moss garden looking good 'Tidal Wave' weeping katsuratree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) one of many scenic views

The cold weather continued this morning with a windchill around -9 degrees F. We had some fluffy snow last night and shoveled off a 1-2" layer of the light stuff from around the Parker Education Center this morning. Big John and Larry jumped right in to processing lights from the Holiday Light Show (HLS) for storage. With a significant increase in milk jug luminaries, lights and cords this year, an "orchestrated" storage will be in order as we'll have a lot to pack away efficiently. Alan M. came in to help the guys and was also checking over some recent donations of lights. We are no longer accepting donated lights due to a volume that we can't keep up with efficiently and the quality of most donations isn't consistent with what we would spend time on for repair and re-use. Janice came in to work on some volunteer-based tasks. We also saw Maury, Gary S., Dave, Cindy B. and Bill O. today. I split my time between preparations for educational events this year, catalogs and additional preparations for the Wisconsin Public Television Garden Expo (February 12, 13 and 14). We'll again have a booth and I have quite a few presentations to prepare. See www.wigardenexpo.com/ for more information on this fun event that includes displays, vendors and lots of educational opportunities. This event has over 20,000 attendees and is great exposure for RBG. I'm a huge fan of sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) which is featured in the blog today. I grew up with my mom always having a huge patch of this fragrant annual along the side of the house. I remember the patch, looking a lot like the variety 'Snow Princess' seen above, blooming all the way through the summer and even through some frost. My mom would then pull up the plants in mid November (with my help) and shake off the seeds in to the same bed, thereby perpetuating what would become an excellent patch each year. Native to sandy beaches and dunes in the Mediterranean region (and some other specific locations), this heat and drought tolerant annual is also called "carpet flower" for obvious reasons. Reaching a height of only 4-6", this plant does spread and cover a good-sized area with an individual plant spreading 12-14". Tolerant of full sun and part shade, this easy-to-grow annual can be directly sown as seed after the last frost date in spring. Also excellent for the container and basket, sweet alyssum is a blooming powerhouse and will continue to show color and interest well after most annuals have been removed due to repeated frost. While flowers will continue to appear, consider a mid-summer shearing and remove the top 1/3 of the plant followed by some fertilizer. What's exciting to see are all the newer varieties that thoroughly explore the color range of pink, lavender, cream and even hints of yellow. Fragrance, incidentally, is mild and most notable at dusk and in the evening. Note further below the variegated form 'Frosty Knight' as well. Some of these selections are vegetatively produced (purchased as plants) although there are still a wide range varieties that will grow well with spring sowing. At the bottom are some photos of how this durable annual can be utilized in the garden. Lobularia 'Bicolor Pink Stream' (above and below) Lobularia 'Lavender Stream' (above and below) Lobularia 'Raspberry Stream' Lobularia 'Silver Stream' Lobularia 'Sweetness Yellow' Lobularia 'Yolo French Vanilla' (above and below) Lobularia 'Giga White' Lobularia 'Snow Princess' (above and below) Lobularia 'Frosty Knight' (above and three below) nice use as a gap filler above great for the container (above) or basket sweet alyssum is an excellent path edger as seen above and below sweet alyssum will also take repeated frost (photo above from November!) and are visited by many pollinators (see below)

I've given many presentations on Ornamental Grasses over the years and always include Japanese forest grass, also called Hakone grass. Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) is native to Japan and prefers partly shaded sites and moist soils. It's important to note that some degree of lighting will allow for the best coloration of certain varieties as seen with the 'All Gold' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) seen above in a beautiful foliage composition with hostas (Hosta sp.) and 'Mocha' coral bells (Heuchera villosa). Moist, well-drained soil is preferred for this perennial grass and while the variegated and golden forms prefer some shading to avoid summer scorching, the greener varieties can tolerate more sun without the "summer burning." I think that Hakone grass has been my most photographed perennial ornamental grass over the last couple of years as it is so valuable for color and texture in the shadier garden setting. There are many options out there and look further down for some more information on this exciting grass and some fun varieties. We had a productive morning both inside and out in the gardens. Today was the warmest at 32 degrees F for the next two weeks. It will be bitter cold by tomorrow. It was perfect weather for Urban, Ron W., Terry, Pat, Larry and Big John to get outside and bring in more lights and other elements from the Holiday Lights Show (HLS). This is a long process, affected by weather, that will continue for months. Vern, Jim and Ron Y. continued work on their carpentry projects. Dr. Gredler came in for painting while Gary B. continued his priming efforts. Maury ran errands, Dick H. helped here and there and we also saw Rollie, Gary S. and many others. Mary W. was in to work on some horticultural therapy fact finding and Janice was in briefly as well. Some members of our Horticultural Therapy Committee met later in the afternoon as well. Notice directly above how nicely the cascading habit of the 'Aureola' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) works to soften the edge of a pathway. While any variety of Hakone grass will lend itself as a textural component as a solitary specimen or in a grouping, the varieties with additional coloration add more visual interest in shadier areas. We use lots of the 'All Gold' variety at RBG for some "illumination" and bright coloration in our shadier garden setting. Keep in mind that some dappled lighting or bright indirect light is essential for the best coloration of the brighter varieties. Hardiness for this grass is usually listed as Z5 but I've heard many examples of this grass in colder climates with some winter protection and/or screening. I've never observed insect or disease problems and struggling specimens have usually been the result of dry soils and/or too much sun. You'll note some varieties below that have summer tinting (red/pinks) that becomes more prominent in fall. These are nice but keep in mind that the best tinting is very late in the season and some of the other varieties ('All Gold' and 'Aureola') will also get some pinkish fall tinting. Regardless, there are about a dozen varieties of Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) out there and I like every one of them. Understand that mature size may vary with the standard green selection getting the largest at 30" tall with a similar width (see directly below) and 'Fubuki' (see below) at only 12" tall and 12" wide or so. I've seen Hakone grass used well as specimens, repeated textural components, container elements and as a mass groundcover with multiple clumps. the standard green Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) 'Albostriata' variegated Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) a textural carpet of Japanese forest grass 'Aureola' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) compared to the standard green form on the right specimen of 'Aureola' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) at Olbrich Botanical Garden (Madison, WI) 'Aureola' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) same as above in a container 'Aureola' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) repetition clumping groundcover of 'Aureola' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) 'Stripe It Rich' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) 'Sunny Delight' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) 'Fubuki' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) 'Beni-Kazi' Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) - red tints in late summer (look for 'Nicolas' and 'Naomi' for two other selections with significant tinting) 'All Gold' golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) 'All Gold' golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) 'All Gold' golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) at RBG same as above in a container clumping groundcover of 'All Gold' golden Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) mass planting of above at Chicago Botanical Garden decent winter interest of Hakone grass (until buried by wet snow or ice)

De krulpin biedt steun aan grote en brede plantgroepen en perken. Zo is de krulpin bijvoorbeeld geschikt om leifruit te leiden, om die enorme zonnebloem te ondersteunen en om een afscherming te maken. Bovendien is het een van de nieuwere Tuinfee producten. In eigen beheer ontwikkeld en geproduceerd, nergens anders te koop. Productinformatie: Diameter: 8 mm Geschikt voor het zware steun- en opbindwerk De ogen zijn bedoelt voor het maken van dwarsverbindingen Gemaakt van zeer zwaar verenstaal 3-oogvariant: 160 cm 2-oogvariant: 120 cm Worden verzonden in sets van 3

Today was another snowy one and while my trip in to work wasn't too bad, the return trip should be interesting to say the least. I'm still in favor of more snow and any precipitation this month to help augment the deficiencies from 2012 is welcome. As I type this blog, I don't have any one else here to report on but I've been busy getting seeds ready for our growers and I'll be hauling most of those out tomorrow and on Thursday if the roads are passable. We still have a couple seeds trickling in from late orders or back orders but the bulk of our seed grown material for the Spring Plant Sale and the gardens is ready to be dispersed and delivered. Our Fern & Moss Garden is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Built just north of the Japanese garden this space (4,000 sq. ft?) has been fun to develop with a vast collection of ferns and a "moss island" surrounded by streams and a small pond. The original intent with the fern collection continues to be to acquire, grow, display and evaluate every fern that we can find that has a hardiness rating to zone 6. We are not zone 6 but we're finding quite a few ferns that have established and were not thought to be hardy. We are involved with the Hardy Fern Foundation (www.hardyferns.org) and are one of eleven satellite display gardens for that organization in the United States. In our fern garden, the six garden beds in this space have ferns loosely grouped by "region of origin" including Asiatic, North American and European. This garden, positioned under the shade of many large cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) was developed to mimic the Japanese garden style and includes lanterns, bridges and in the photo above and below, you can see the Ma Chii' (spelling?) structure which is an authentic Japanese resting structure for contemplation. This garden has had some trials and tribulations in the past including flooding in 2008 which covered over 2/3 of the garden with standing water (13 weeks) when our surrounding ponds (and the adjacent streams and Rock River) peaked at 5' over normal levels. A good portion of the Japanese garden was also flooded and we've been replacing plants for a couple years now in all if these gardens. Many ferns were replaced and while we've dabbled with slight improvements to our moss island, we took a serious step this past spring. We continue to augment the collection, tweak the misting system, amend soils as needed and hope to re-establish one of the largest fern collections in the Midwest. The top photo shows the original moss island in late winter. Why grow moss? Why not? Wisconsin has 400 native species of moss and while I can't identify very many, our hope was to include and promote moss as a groundcover option in the shade. Originally quite flat, this mossy expanse was established by Jenny E. and Janice. Janice has been the moss caretaker since the beginning and has been in charge of adding moss, additional watering, debris collection, etc. In recent years, Marv B. had helped by adding mosses and re-configuring that garden with additional rocks, clubmosses, etc. The flooding mentioned above created some problems including an influx of weeds and while the moss island was nice, we knew it could be improved after visiting the garden of Dale S. in Waukesha, WI on two occasions (2005 and 2011). We decided to enlist the help of Dale S. ("Mr. Moss") this spring to create a new moss garden (same location) with more topography and a wider selection of mosses. I essentially asked Dale to approach our moss island like he has his moss plantings at home. The end result can be seen below. Dale S., a retired economics instructor from MATC (Milwaukee), contacted me years ago regarding moss. He mentioned his garden and sent some pictures along. I was mesmerized by the healthy moss beds and his entire 1 acre garden is unbelievable. His knowledge (and appreciation) of mosses is quite extraordinary and after our first trip to his garden, I realized that Dale's passion for mosses could be replicated at RBG. Mosses have a 400 million year history and are quite adaptable in a wide range of conditions. Mosses have no true roots or flowers. They reproduce by spores and the reason you see mosses growing on rocks, tree trunks, bricks, etc. is that they attach with rhizoids (anchoring structures) and take in water and nutrients on an intercellular level (rainwater). Mosses are also evergreen and will photosynthesize year-round. In fact, they are green right now under the snow. There is a great, award-winning book on mosses by George Schenk that is worthy of consideration (Moss Gardening: Including Lichens, Liverworts, and Other Miniatures). The biology of mosses is quite interesting and there are various thoughts on how to establish mosses. Of course, mosses in warmer, more humid climates can be problematic (i.e. the Pacific Northwest) and may not be promoted as a garden asset. However, in the Midwest, mosses can add a wonderful touch in a woodland or shade garden as a durable groundcover. The quick summary of the process that Dale employed includes site preparation with soil mounds, rock placement and ultimately the re-positioning of moss transplants. Dale had help from Marv, Terry, Big John and Janice although most of the moss acquisition and placement was done by Dale. The "quiltwork" approach of positioning patches in close proximity works well if mosses are immediately and consistently watered. These collected moss patches were skimmed below the rhizoids and tamped securely in place. Keep in mind that it is illegal to collect mosses from State or Federal lands and when collecting, only take a portion of a moss patch from the wild so it can regenerate the open space. We are also encouraging mosses on all the rocks in that garden. We did secure some light netting over newly planted moss sections to deter birds and squirrels from collecting prime nesting material. The process can be seen below and the results have been spectacular. We'll continue to add mosses as needed but this new, mounded look with additional rocks and a wider variety of mosses has become immediately popular and a great garden asset for RBG. Included further below are some inspirational shots of Dale's moss garden. Dale's moss island preparation (Marv & Terry in background) moss transplants ready to go Mr. Moss, poised and ready the "patchwork" approach Janice and Mr. Moss consulting moss island (east bed) moss island (west bed) moss clumps in fall: filling in nicely one of many moss troughs at Dale's garden Dale's garden woodland path in Dale's garden mossy patch at Dale's garden moss at Dale's garden moss at Dale's garden consider mosses!

I've given many presentations on Ornamental Grasses over the years and always include Japanese forest grass, also called Hakone grass. ...

My winter blogging trend certainly continues to "lean" towards sharing some color and today is no exception. The tropical copperleafs (Acalypha wilkesiana) are wonderful in the full sun or part sun garden and we've dabbled with a wide variety of these plants well known for having showy foliage (like 'Tiki Peach Whirl' seen above). This plant is actual a native shrub in Fiji and on some other South Pacific Islands. Reaching almost 10' tall in those climates (hardy to zones 10 and 11), it will only get about 18" tall on average for us but offers such a strong foliage color and frequently interesting texture as well. This plant prefers rich and moist soils (quickly draining though!) and will not thrive in dry conditions, deep shade or overly damp soils. We use them as bedding plants and in containers where they have always thrived. Today was another quiet one at the Horticulture Center which allowed me to get ready for my 2015 ordering and early events. Pat M. came in for some pruning out in the gardens this morning while Dave T. and Dick H. worked on some carpentry projects. We also saw Art H., Renee S., Jean S., Marsha M. and some others today. The Holiday Lights Show (HLS) starts this Friday, December 12th although we'll have it on briefly this evening so NBC15 (Madison) can broadcast their weather from the HLS which should be a great promotion of the show! Enjoy just some of the many copperleaf selections seen below. 'Tiki Island Sunrise' 'Tiki Lava Flow' 'Tiki Tahitian Halo' 'Tiki Jungle Cloak' 'Raggedy Ann' 'Bourbon Street' 'Brazen' 'Kona Gold' 'Kona Gold' 'Firestorm' 'La Bamba' 'Ceylon' 'Sizzle Scissors' 'Sizzle Scissors' Acalypha godseffiana

Well, the moss (picture above from yesterday) sure is enjoying the weather and can be seen above in the 'sporophyte stage' of reproduction. Like ferns, mosses are very primitive (400 million year history) and reproduce by spores. This patch is growing on a rock and is able to do so as moss doesn't have true roots. Mosses have rhizoids, which allow it them to adhere to surfaces. That's why you see moss on rocks, logs and other surfaces that might be impermeable to roots. George Schenk wrote a great book on moss gardening (look for it) and we continue to develop our moss garden here. See below for some unbelievable shots of Dale's moss garden in Waukesha, WI. I call Dale "Mr. Moss" as his garden would inspire anyone to encourage (not discourage) moss in the shade garden. His 1 acre garden is unbelievable and I use these images (from 2009) in all of my talks on moss gardening. Today was a juggling act with a Grumpy day, lots of volunteers, meetings, irrigation guys and pop-in visits . While the weather was cool and overcast, Bob C., Dick H. and Charlie cut back our 'Flame' willows (Salix sp.) as we like to keep them short and the new growth will pop up 5-8' this year. This is one of the varieties that gets reddish stems in winter (see Bob C. to the left with a load) and are a great slope stabilizer on the west end of the gardens overlooking the beach. Marianne worked on labels and she and Janice brainstormed on preparations for our spring plant sale. Thank goodness for their well-organized approach to these events and all that is involved for set-up, running the event and take down. Janice also had two of her youth volunteers here today as well. Marv and Terry worked on various projects and Larry bounced around as well. Little Jerry and Urban continued pruning and Bill was here most of the day cutting back the remainder of our ornamental grasses and hauling loads of debris. The carpenters kept busy (Bob A., Jim and Dave). Dr. Gredler ran more loads to the dump and continued to aerate some of our tougher lawns. The gardens seem to be "greening" more each day. John and Ron finished taking down the deer fencing (see below) and I'm happy with the protection that it offered our arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) hedges. The deer still found munchies but were denied their traditional fare this year. We also saw Dave, Larry S., Jean, Janet, Barb and Mike over here today. I'll be off tomorrow so next post will be on Monday. See below for one of my favorite perennials just emerging (first shot from yesterday) and what it will become in a couple short months. Lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis) is one of the toughest perennials I know and is so tolerant of a wide range of soils and lighting conditions. Some consider it fairly "basic" but I like the chartreusy flowers in late June and appreciate its value as an "edger" as seen at the bottom (Olbrich Botanical Gardens). If you've ever grown this plant or observed it after a rain, water beads up nicely on the leaves. Early alchemists thought this the purest form of water and used it in their quests to turn base metals in to gold. We will actually shear this plant back severely in mid-summer for a fresh flush of foliage. The flowers are nice in a vase too...Utilitarian? Yes? Ubiquitous? Never!

I've given many presentations on Ornamental Grasses over the years and always include Japanese forest grass, also called Hakone grass. ...

I've given many presentations on Ornamental Grasses over the years and always include Japanese forest grass, also called Hakone grass. ...

Carol Klein was born in Walkden, Lancashire on 24th June 1945 and is 75 years old. She got her early love of gardening from her grandfather who had an allotment and from her mother. Carol has 2 brothers and her father had a TV shop in Walkden. Early memories include carrying around buckets of mud to bring into the house to make her own kitchen garden. Her mother encouraged Carol creative indoor gardening but her Father hated gardening but she never let that deter her. Her Father loved Motorbikes an interest that Carol also shares to this day. She attended Bolton School where she enjoyed Art and biology but left at 15. She wanted to study Art further but her father did not want her to but she was able to return to her love of art later in her career. Carol Klein's first job after leaving school was at Kendal Milne a department store in Manchester selling buttons and stockings. Returning to her love of art, Carol trained as an Art teacher and started her teaching career in Shepherds Bush. She taught Art for 13 years before moving to Devon in 1978 with her husband Neil and where her career in gardening was to begin. After scraping enough for a mortgage Carol Klein moved to Glebe Cottage, in Chittlehamholt near Umberleigh in Devon. The garden at the cottage needed a lot of work but after gardening on the balcony of their London flat, Carol was keen to start. The garden was full of old cars, sheds and concrete! 15 tons of hardcore soon cleared the old paths to plant fruit trees and the start of her organic garden. Carol Klein has two daughters Annie and Alice. After they were born she gave up teaching and started selling homemade jam, bread and her garden plants at a local market. Carol went on to set up the very successful Plant Nursery, Glebe Cottage Plants in Chittlehamholt near Umberleigh on some adjacent rented land next to her cottage. Carol has had no formal training and her huge knowledge of plants are self taught. As the Plant Nursery grew in popularity Carol started to take her plants to the shows. Carol Klein won 6 Gold Medals at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and became a regular medal winner at gardening shows. In 1989, Carol Klein's Glebe Cottage garden featured on Gardeners' World with Geoff Hamilton this was to be the start of Carol Klein highly successful TV career. In 1998 Carol was a presenter on the popular TV garden makeover show Real Gardens with Monty Don and Ann-Marie Powell. This show was different from the usual format as helped the gardeners through out the season develop their own gardens. Carol Klein has been a Gardeners World presenter since 2006 and most recently Carol Klein presented Great British Gardens. In 2011, her plant nursery Glebe Cottage Plants had to sadly close following a dispute with her new neighbours, who did not renew the lease on the land where the nursery was based. Carol has had 2 hip replacements, not that you would ever know it 2016 RHS Ambassador Carol Klein TV Programmes1998 - 2000 Real Gardens Series 3 ? I am not sure if this is Series 2 and series 3 from Episode 14? Pete Free 🌻 Episode 1: Stockport, Norfolk & Felixstowe Episode 2: Harrow, Norfolk & Devon Episode 3: Stockport, Norfolk & Felixstowe Episode 4: Harrow, Norfolk & Devon Episode 5: Stockport, Norfolk & Felixstowe Episode 6: Harrow, Norfolk & Devon Episode 7: Guernsey, Felixstowe & Stockport Episode 8: Devon, Stockport, Guernsey & RHS Chelsea Flower Show Episode 9: Harrow, Guernsey & Felixstowe Episode 10: Guernsey, Islington & Devon Episode 11: Huddersfield, Islington & Chulmleigh Episode 12: Devon, Guernsey & Stockport Episode 13: Huddersfield, Islington, Chulmleigh & RHS Hampton Court Flower Show Episode 14: Liverpool, Burton-on-Trent, Portsmouth (from previous series) Episode 15: Cotswolds, Huddersfield & Chumleigh Episode 16: Guernsey, Cotswolds & Chumleigh Episode 17: Huddersfield, Cotswolds & Chumleigh Episode 18: Guernsey, Wiltshire & Cotswolds Episode 19: Leicestershire, Wiltshire & Cotswolds Episode 20: Leicestershire, Wiltshire & Cotswolds Series 2 Series 1 2006 - Present Gardeners' World - Presenter 2006 RHS Chelsea Flower show - reporter 2007 Grow Your Own Veg - presenter 6 Episodes 2007 Open Gardens - Presenter 6 Episodes 2011 - 2013 Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein Series 1 Episode 1: Winter Episode 2: Spring Episode 3: Spring into Summer Episode 4: High Summer Episode 5: Autumn Episode 6: Into Winter 2013 - 2015 Great British Garden Revival - Presenter 4 Episodes 2015 Carol Klein's Plant Odysseys - Presenter 4 Episodes 2019 Great British Gardens: Season by Season by Carol Klein - Channel 5 - presenter 2019 The Great Gardening Challenge - Judge Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 - Semi final Episode 6 - The Final 2020 Gardeners' World 2020 Copyright BBC.com Episode 4: 10 April 2020 Episode 7: 01 May 2020 Episode 9: 15 May 2020 2021 Gardening with Carol Klein Episode 1 Episode 2 2021 Gardeners' World 2021 Episode 1: 19 March 2021 Episode 3: 02 April 2021 Episode 5: 16 April 2021 2021 Autumn Gardening with Carol Klein First shown 07/10/2021 2022 Gardeners' World 2022 2023 Gardeners' World Compilations 2023 Gardeners' World 2023 Gardeners' World Winter Specials 2023/24 2024 Gardeners' World Compilations 2024 Gardeners' World 2024 Carol Klein Books 2004 Plant Personalities 2007 RHS Grow Your Own Veg 2008 RHS Grow Your Own Veg Journal 2008 Cook Your Own Veg 2009 RHS Grow Your Own Fruit 2010 Grow Your Own Garden: How to propagate All Your Own Plants 2011 Life in a Cottage Garden 2012 Carol Klein's Favourite Plants 2013 Wild Flowers: Nature's Own to Garden Grown 2015 Making a Garden: Successful Gardening by Nature's Rules 2020 RHS Grow Your Own Veg & Fruit Bible Carol Klein Twitter Share this post

Upside down gardening is growing plants in pots suspended from the ceiling. This style of gardening started to gain popularity in 1998 when gardener

The cold weather continued this morning with a windchill around -9 degrees F. We had some fluffy snow last night and shoveled off a 1-...

Recent weather sure makes it feel like October. My favorite time of year includes the 70 degree days and 50 degree nights; but not in August! Above is the 'Autumn Colors' gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) that is in our seasonal Rudbeckia collection. Many of our collections, while still having some color, are starting to look a little rough and we're removing seasonals as they wimp out. We hope September will be a warm month but are seeing signs of an early fall (including plenty of early cottonwood leaves falling down). Recent bad news includes a positive diagnosis regarding late blight in our tomato collection. Interestingly enough, this is the blight that caused the Irish potato famine and has huge repercussions throughout the potato crop in WI, not just our tomatoes. See www.extension.org/pages/Late_Blight_Identified_in_Wisconsin;_Gardeners_and_Growers_Need_to_be_Alert for more information and note some blight symptoms in the recent photos below. Despite the blight thing and cool weather, the gardens are still looking great and we had a bumper crop of volunteers today as well as our Monday grounds staff. Little Jerry worked on pruning in the Japanese garden along with Karen. Marv and Terry composted, rototilled, planted a tree, edged and otherwise kept occupied. Larry worked on cleaning out the sunken garden pond (no small task) while Marianne worked in the irises, entrance garden and did her cutting display. Rose was here working on relettering the benches while Mary and Kristine weeded and tidied up various beds and borders. Jim brought down two RECAPPERS and they accomplished a lot of clean-up work around the gardens. It was another great Grumpy day with most of the guys helping set-up tents (John, Del, Dick P., Maury, Gary, Bill, Ron, Ed and Mike) for the plant sale and moving on to other projects. Urban and Dick K. worked on mulching an area and everyone kept fairly busy. Dr. Yahr was here as well. The carpenters (Bob, Vern, Jim and Dave) worked on installing air edging and finishing some carpentry projects. Deb, Bev and Robin came in to work on preparations for the GardenFest (Sept. 12) this afternoon and of course, Dr. Gredler was here to work on various projects including his new berm creation. See below for some colorfully inviting respite down near the wishing well garden. At the bottom is a very neat perennial called Hungarian daisy (Leucanthemella serotina) that blooms late, is over 6' tall and offers a nice splash of white in September. Great for the back of the sunny border.

Garden-pedia: An A-to-Z Guide to Gardening Terms Garden-pedia is written to fill the need for a clear, concise book of useful terms for the layman gardener. In a friendly, conversational style, the authors give the reader easy access to the what, when, why and how of gardening – with entertaining sidebars, tips and color photos...

Spending time in the garden can awaken the senses of touch, smell, and taste, and attune a child to the subtler sights and sounds of nature.

Designers have taken inspiration from the great outdoors this autumn, turning to all-weather clothes, smocks and big boots. But do actual gardeners dig it?

Above is a nice shot of a waterfall with plenty of ferns in the Japanese garden of Butchart Gardens in B.C. Canada. The ferns are primarily the broadly native maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) which is one of my "textural favorites." My plant focus today is on awesome ferns starting with the letter A (well, at least their Latin name starts with an A). There are so many great ferns for the garden and their value goes beyond just visual texture. Many offer color, form, function and they can also be effective groundcovers and neighbors for other garden perennials. Read more on ferns later down. We had another productive day. Despite a forecast for plenty of snow, we haven't seen much as I type although perhaps later we'll get the 4"-7" that I was mentally preparing for after seeing the news. Pat was out in the gardens bringing in more lights from the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) and came back periodically to help process lights as well. Directly below are some luminaries that he brings in for drainage and subsequent storage. The second photo down shows some of the PVC arches that came back in for "un-decorating" by Pat, Larry and Bill. The third photo down shows just a small sample of what we're processing daily at the Horticulture Center. Bill O. was in to help Larry and Dick H. was in for some projects. Dr. Gredler came in for painting and Janice continued work on our Thomas Jefferson / Monticello themed display for 2014-2015. We also had a Garden Development & Maintenance Committee Meeting which included Dr. Gredler, Big John, Dr. Gredler, Gary, Larry H. and Maury. RBG has a fern & moss garden that displays well over 200 different types of ferns from around the world. I always appreciated ferns but not fully until I saw the wide range of textures, colors and uses for the hardy ferns that can be used in the Midwest. Ferns are all to often just used as textural filler in our part shade and shady gardens. While they will be effective as textural foils and neighbors with other perennials, ferns can be long-lived, functional and beautiful components in our shadier gardens. I always preach that our success with any species/type of fern is directly related to our ability to replicate where they grow natively. That may (or may not) mean rich soils, high humidity, ample moisture, etc. Ferns will thrive when happy (although be wary of overly aggressive species) and will let you know when they are not. As I started this blog, I realized there were enough ferns, like the maidenhair ferns (Adiantum pedatum) directly above, starting with the letter A to show some fun ones to look for. Some of my favorite Japanese painted ferns (Athyrium niponicum and hybrids) as well as lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina and hybrids) can be seen below. There are also some nice hybrids between Japanese painted ferns (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum) and lady ferns (Athyrium filix-femina). In regards to the painted ferns, it is important to note that coloration will vary from spring to summer to fall and average coloration may vary year to year. In come cases, it takes a year or two for a selection to "mature" in to the best coloration. Some of the varietal differences in painted ferns are indistinguishable but I've included those that I feel have marked color differences. standard Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum) 'Silver Falls' Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) 'Burgundy Lace' Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) 'Pewter Lace' Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) 'Applecourt' crested Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) 'Ghost' fern (Japanese painted fern + lady fern hybrid) - Athyrium hybrida 'Branford Rambler' hybrid painted fern (Athyrium hybrida) 'Branford Beauty' hybrid painted fern (Athyrium hybrida) 'Ocean's Fury' hybrid painted fern (Athyrium hybrida) standard lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) criss-cross lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina 'Vernoniae Cristata') 'Parsley' lady fern (Athyrium hybrida) 'Encourage' lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) 'Dre's Dagger' lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) tatting fern (Athyrium filix-femina 'Frizelliae') close-up of above 'Lady in Red' lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina var. angustum forma rubellum) silvery glade fern (Athyrium thelypteroides)

Wheelchair Accessible Gardening & What Tools/Materials You Will Need For Your Project. Tips To Get Started With Your Own Garden Started & Stay Active.

Gardening success depends on knowing your soil. Here's how to determine your soil type, and point your green thumb toward lush victory.

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