April Road Trip

I left work today after touching base with our excellent grounds staff and volunteers and headed up to Sturgeon Bay by way of Madison and Green Bay where I visited Olbrich Botanical Gardens and Green Bay Botanical Gardens respectively on my journey.  My final destination was to get to Sturgeon Bay for a presentation for the Door County Master Gardeners on the topic of “Ornamental Edibles”.  It was a fun crowd and hard to believe this area had snowstorms a week ago.  There was still a snowblower out front of my speaking venue (The Crossroads).  Lots of fun and some images below…

cool use of a birch (Betula) log section for a planter (above at Olbrich – OBG)

reticulated irises (Iris reticulata) – OBG

striped squill (Puschkinia libanotica) – OBG

silhouette of an enormous cottonwood (Populus deltoides) – OBG

bulb meadows above and below – OBG

cheery little daffodil (Narcissus) – OBG

despite the 65 degrees F day…there was still snow up at the Green Bay Botanical Garden (GBBG)

the relatively new Arendt Conifer Garden (above) at GBBG

crocuses (Crocus sp.) – GBBG

Corydalis solida ‘George P. Baker’ – GBBG (I need to try this one!)

snowdrops (Galanthus sp.) in the lawns – GBBG

the rose garden was still snug under 18-24″ of insulating mulch!

‘Chief Joseph’ lodgepole pine (Pinus contorata var. latifolia) – GBBG

sweet new outdoor amphitheater – GBBG