Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Tree Sale Finale

I'm at work unofficially today to check on the last day of the tree sale. The shot above of the arched bridge from the gazebo garden was taken yesterday. The tree sale was in good hands with Marianne supervising (she now has the nickname "The Rattlesnake", which is a term of endearment) and plenty of volunteers assisting (Carol, Nancy, Alice, Sue and Lily). Maury, Pat, Gordy and some Golden "K" guys were also assisting. Janice came in to relieve Marianne while Larry, Bill and Dr. Gredler were out in the gardens mowing and tidying up. There may be Prom photos today as one of the high schools (Parker?) has it scheduled tonight. No rain, yet. Directly below is the young growth of my favorite variegated Jacob's ladder (Polemonium reptans 'Touch of Class') and beneath that, 'Pinot Gris' coral bells (Heuchera) with nice, pastel orange new growth.

Included here are some additional pictures of the butterfly art projects around the gardens. They really look great. The tragedy is that so many have wonderful art on the back sides as well and it was impossible to position them all so they could be viewed from both sides. The other reality is that we had to use three stakes to support these out in the gardens which detracts a bit from artwork on the back. Some of these butterflies have heavy beads, glassware, stained glass, etc. and our concern was wind breaking off the fairly thin wings. Wingless butterflies might be a bit macabre out in the gardens so the anchoring I think was both essential and warranted. There are three butterflies that we'll have to display inside or somewhere "out of the elements" as the materials used to decorate them would be immediately compromised by rain. We'll figure it out next week and Sue M. will create the brochure for this display. All the butterflies are in areas that will be shortly filled with emerging (or planted) flowers and will blend nicely in to the flower arrangements in which they have been placed. Directly below are a couple (of the 5,000) wind anemones (Anemone blanda 'Blue Shades') that we planted last fall in front of the Parker Education Center. They are peaking as I type. This was to give that hint of our blue and yellow theme. Once these begin to fade (next week), 5,000 yellow tulips of three different shades will take over and are timed fairly well for Mother's Day weekend. At the bottom is the golden (spring) foliage of the 'Blue Sunrise' perennial geranium (Geranium hybrida). This perennial will have nice blue flowers in a couple weeks that go nicely with the yellow foliage that ultimately turns green by mid-summer.

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