Monday, March 1, 2010

Happy March!

Nice shot above from our volunteer photographer, Santos, that ran in the Janesville Gazette this past weekend. That flower is Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia 'Torch') that doesn't look like much in spring but grows over 6' tall and is smothered with these orange flowers from August into September. Butterflies can't resist. See below for another Mexican sunflower shot. All these shots were at the gardens. The variety 'Torch' may need staking but look for 'Fiesta del Sol' for a shorter, sturdy version (4'). There are also yellow versions and color mixes with orange and yellow. Find these as seed from seed catalogs or ask your local garden center. Great day today with plenty of activity. The general consensus is that we can't believe it's March already. I spoke on Saturday in Malta, IL for the Garden Pathways symposium hosted by University of Illinois Extension and Kishwaukee College. It was a great event and a very enthusiastic crowd (plenty of caffeine to make it thru my talks!). I spoke on ornamental edibles and annuals. I have talks every Saturday in March and will be in Amherst, WI this Saturday speaking on ferns & mosses. Tomorrow night I speak on perennials up at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Marianne was here today working on her alpine plant labels and we saw Janice briefly. Little Jerry is officially "on the clock" and worked on pruning out in the gardens with Urban and Bill. Larry worked on equipment maintenance and Dr. Gredler was back hauling brush and painting. Rose was here to continue her culvert pipe painting and Del and Dick W. worked on the last of the reindeer. The carpenters (Vern, Dave, Bob A., and Jim) continue their quest for arches and continue to make progress. Marv & Terry worked on some projects including figuring out how we'll plant our new culvert containers. We also saw John, Bev, Big Jim, Deb, Julie, Barb, Dick H. and Bill today. The two frost pictures are from Bill Olmsted, a talented photographer and photo editor for the Janesville Gazette.

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