Thursday, June 13, 2013

The Value Of Volunteers!


After a light rain last night (.5"), we had a great day out in the gardens with plenty of sunshine.  The storms hit both north and south of us and while I would have liked more precipitation, I was glad to avoid the high winds and pounding hail that others received.  It was amazing to watch the doppler radar and the storms just brush Janesville all day yesterday and throughout most of the evening.  We had a super duper day of volunteerism out in the gardens today.  Directly above are members of the Bower City Garden Club planting the formal annual sections this afternoon.  A big thanks to Doris, Janet, Barb, Cora, Marcia, Elaine, Renee, Milly and our own Mary (also seen below).  We also had a wonderful turnout of Grumpies and Grumpettes that were involved with many projects out in the gardens.  Thanks to Ron W., Ron Y., Ron P., Dick H., Gene, Bob C., Dave T., Jim, Vern, Stan, Winifred, Marilyn, Mary R., Bev W., Mary D., Suzy, Chuck S., Ray, Magda, Marleen, Bob & Chris G., Bill O., Janet, Jack, Dr. Yahr, Dr. Gredler and so many others.  Suffice it to say that the gang did a lot of work including carpentry, planting, weeding, garden clean-up, etc.  

Mary F.-P. working her planting kung fu
Chris and Bob G. tidying up in the sunken garden
Magda and Marleen
Winifred, Mary, Marilyn & Suzy (left to right)
Bev W. in the sunken garden
Ron W., Ron P., Bob C. and Gene (on the pier)
Dick H. and Jim working on bridge repair
Ron Y. and Vern working on new obelisks

The grounds staff has a multitude of projects as well.  Above is the golden, lacy foliage of the 'Isla Gold' tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) which is heavy on color and not short on vigor!  Larry ran some irrigation today and we spot watered in select locations.  Larry also replaced our sunken garden fountain pump, push mowed and worked on myriad other projects.  Big John (below) set our cucumber supports and more obelisks out in the garden, edged, hauled plants, watered and had many other odds and ends.  Jenny planted and weeded two areas, helped me with our afternoon project and watered.  Janice got our Grumpettes started, weeded, planted, watered and is working on some new signs as well.  Cheryl was in for a half day and did a nice job working on weeding the front beds off the main parking lot.  The cottonwood (Populus deltoides) seeds are germinating everywhere and need to be dealt with efficiently over the coming weeks.  There are still a few drifting down but the bulk have been dispersed far and wide. Our new grounds member, Jeremy (second photo down), did a nice job touching up the edging along our primary gravel path which is no small project.  He also hoed up weeds and smoothed out a large bed that we'll plant this weekend.  I hauled out plants all day and was able to prepare another three or four areas for planting either tomorrow or Saturday at our last spring Volunteer Workday (8 am - 12 noon).  We do have another one on October 19th for bulb planting (put it on the calendar!). Further below are some additional plants seen today.



ornamental allium (Allium 'Hair')
'The Blues' little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
'Sun Spun Purple Star' petunia (Petunia)

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