Thursday, March 18, 2010

Enjoy It While It Lasts!

The crocuses (Crocus sp.)are blooming quite well, at least those that haven't been nibbled down! I love crocus but I don't promote them a lot as we've had so much deer and rabbit nibbling on them in the past that they fall in to that "delicacy catagory." Another awesome day outside (sunny and 63 degrees F) although we'll be back to normal this weekend it appears. We had a wonderful turn out today with some veteran Grumpies returning for some gardening action. Ron and Del finished clearing evergreen boughs off of the rose garden and moved on to other clean-up duties. Bob C. and Big John worked on pulling out fence posts (used as supports for displays/trees from the holiday lights show) and brought back many displays as well. Marv and Terry put up some obelisks out in the gardens (lavender painted) that will combine nicely with emerging bulbs in the vicinity. Little Jerry worked on pruning while Larry staked a tree and accomplished various odds and ends. Dr. Gredler continues with his dump trips and had some truck improvements by Dick H. today. The carpenters continued with their arches and Kay came in to continue on her weeding quest. Marianne continued on her fern labels while Janice came in to work on her projects and with her youth volunteer group doing some raking and clean-up. Nice shot of another spring-blooming witchhazel (Hamamelis x intermedia) to the left. I prefer the yellow bloomers as they "pop" more in the landscape and many might walk by the "orangey-red" bloomers and not see the blooms. Not sure which variety this is to be honest (maybe 'Diane'?). This hybrid is a zone 5 plant but sure can take a lot of shade. It's always fun to do the late winter walk and see what's poking its head out this time of year. Many of the sedges (Carex sp.) are emerging, including the plantain-leaf sedge (Carex plantaginea) to the right. That foliage is from last year and will be replaced by fresh growth. However, if you look closely, the inflorescences are starting to shoot up from the center. Below is my green beer from last night. I picked up this Central Waters beer up in Amherst (where it is brewed) weeks ago after my presentation and it is delicious. My younger daughter is not shy about the liberal use of food coloring (see the Irish soda bread at the bottom).

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